USAID/E-PESO ACTIVITY UPDATED WORK PLAN FOR YEARS 5-7 (FY 2019 Q3-FY 2021 Q1)
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USAID/E-PESO ACTIVITY UPDATED WORK PLAN FOR YEARS 5-7 (FY 2019 Q3-FY 2021 Q1)
USAID/E-PESO WORK PLAN FOR YEARS 5-7 (FY 2019 Q3-FY 2021 Q1) APRIL 1, 2019 – DECEMBER 31, 2020 First Submission: August 15, 2017 Second Submission: April 12, 2018 Third Submission: June 7, 2018 Fourth Submission: April 17, 2019 Fifth Submission: July 2, 2019 Sixth Submission: August 28, 2019 Seventh Submission: October 30, 2019 Prepared for the United States Agency for International Development by Chemonics International Inc. under Contract No. AID-492-C-15-0001. The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. Implemented by: Chemonics International Inc. 1717 H Street NW Washington, DC 20006 Phone: +1 202-995-3300 Fax: +1 202-995-3400 www.chemonics.com
CONTENTS
ACRONYMS.................................................................................................................................................... ii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION TO USAID/E-PESO ............................................................................................. 4
YEAR 5-7 WORK PLAN............................................................................................................................ 5
OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
SUB-PURPOSE 1: RAPID ADOPTION OF E-PAYMENTS IN FINANCIAL SYSTEM ............................ 8
SUB-PURPOSE 2: INFRASTRUCTURE FOR E-PAYMENTS EXPANDED ........................................... 22
SUB-PURPOSE 3: ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR E-PAYMENTS IMPROVED .............................. 25
SUB-PURPOSE 4 (CROSS-CUTTING): GAPS IN BROADER E-PAYMENT ECOSYSTEM
ADDRESSED .............................................................................................................................. 37
CROSS-CUTTING AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES........................................................................ 42
PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT .................................................................................................. 45
COLLABORATION WITH OTHER USAID PROJECTS .................................................................. 46
PROJECT ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................................................ 46
PROGRESS TOWARDS ACHIEVING RESULTS AND Y6 PROPOSED TARGETS ............................ 47
ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE WITH REGULATION 216 ....................................... 54
ANNEX A: ACCOMPLISHMENTS, PROBLEMS & CHALLENGES,
AND LESSONS LEARNED ............................................................................................................ 55
USAID E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORKPLAN i
ACRONYMS
ACH Automated Clearing House
ATM Automated Teller Machine
ARTA Anti-Red Tape Authority
BAP Bankers Association of the Philippines
BDA Basic Deposit Account
BFP Bureau of Fire Protection
B2B Business to Business
B2G Business to Government
B2P Business to Person
BIR Bureau of Internal Revenue
BLGD Bureau of Local Government Development
BNRS Business Name Registration System
BSFI BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions
BSP Central Bank of the Philippines
BTCA Better Than Cash Alliance
BTMS Bureau of Treasury Management System
BTr Bureau of Treasury
CCT Conditional Cash Transfer
CDI Cities Development Initiative
CICO Cash-in Cash-out
CSO Clearing Switch Operator
DBM Department of Budget and Management
DBP Development Bank of the Philippines
DICT Department of Information and Communications Technology
DILG Department of Interior and Local Government
DOF Department of Finance
DOTr Department of Transportation
DSWD Department of Social Welfare and Development
DTI Department of Trade and Industry
EFT Electronic Fund Transfer
EMI Electronic Money Issuer
EPSP Electronic Payment Service Provider
e-TRACS Enhanced Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLAN
eTSPCert Electronic Tax Software Providers Certification
G2P Government to Person
GDA Global Development Alliance
GOCC Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation
GPH Government of the Philippines
GRC Governance, Risk and Compliance
GSB Government Servicing Banks
Pag-IBIG Home Development Mutual Fund
IPG Internet Payment Gateway
LBP Land Bank of the Philippines
LGU Local Government Unit
LMS Learning Management System
MSME Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
NATCCO National Confederation of Cooperatives
NGA National Government Agencies
NRPS National Retail Payment System
P2B Person to Business
P2G Person to Government
P2P Person to Person
PFG Partnership for Growth
PPMI Philippine Payments Management Inc.
PPP Public Private Partnerships
RCBC Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation
SEC Securities and Exchange Commission
SME Small and Medium Enterprises
SSS Social Security System
TRAIN Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion
TSP Tax Software Providers
UCT Unconditional Cash Transfer
USAID United States Agency for International Development
USG United States Government
VAS Value Added Service
W-GDP Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLAN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In accordance with guidance received from USAID/Philippines in February 2019, May 2019 and
September 2019, this revised Years 5–7 Work Plan presents an updated set of project activities for
the period from April 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020 (FY 2019 Q3 – FY 2021 Q1). The remainder of
the anticipated period of performance will focus primarily on project closeout responsibilities. This
work plan also presents updated targets for Years 5 to 7 which are commensurate with the plan of
activities and funding levels. Finally, a summary of accomplishments, challenges and lessons learned
from the preceding period is also presented in Annex A.
E-PESO’s activities have been designed in close collaboration with USAID to build on the gains from
the efficient, transparent, and inclusive retail e-payment system that E-PESO helped establish. These
activities are aimed at achieving broad-based growth and financial inclusion. They include special focus
on strengthening the cybersecurity of the country’s digital payments system that is consistent with the
objectives of the Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership of the United States
Government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the E-PESO scope of work. With funding from the Women’s
Global Development and Prosperity Initiative program (W-GDP), E-PESO will also train and enable
women entrepreneurs to become online sellers and e-payment users to expand their access to market
and participation in the digital economy, and their access to finance.
In March 2018, USAID provided an additional obligation of $1.25 million to cover activities until March
31, 2019 with the guidance to broaden the objective from primarily economic growth to include
democracy and governance, demonstrating how an expansion of digital finance lays the groundwork
for stronger, more accountable, and more inclusive institutional systems. During this period, E-PESO
prioritized its work in supporting GPH initiatives to promote good governance, transparency, ease of
doing business, and operational efficiency related to digital finance. E-PESO assisted the Department
of Budget and Management (DBM) in rolling out the Budget and Treasury Management System to
national government agencies (NGAs); worked with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to enable
tax software providers to incorporate e-payments functionality into their products and provide
taxpayers a seamless experience in tax preparation, filing, and payment; and launched e-payments
adoption in Tagbilaran, Legazpi, and Puerto Princesa Cities. The Activity also assisted the Central
Bank of the Philippines (BSP) in strengthening the digital security of e-payments system and undertook
PESONet marketing communications program to encourage the adoption of e-payments. Notably,
in this period (April 2018), the Activity contributed to the launch of the InstaPay low-value, real-time
electronic funds transfer automated clearing house (ACH). E-PESO also completed its ongoing
institutional payments baseline study and market research to help the payments industry mitigate risks
in the development of innovative e-payments products that utilize structures and rules established by
the National Retail Payment System (NRPS). Meanwhile, the two key ACHs that E-PESO helped
establish–PESONet and InstaPay–continued to grow in uptake. For the month of August 2019,
PESONet recorded use by 53 participating banks and electronic money issuers (EMIs) and over $2
billion transaction value, while InstaPay had 44 participating financial institutions and 3 million
transactions. PESONet's volume is already over 7 percent of that of checks.
With an additional obligation of $0.5 million received in February 2019, $1 million received in June
2019 and another $2.3 million in September 2019 which includes $750k from the W-GDP, E-PESO
will enhance its work to deliver and sustain the benefits of payments policy reforms already achieved
by increasing adoption of e-payments among government agencies and businesses, to bolster the
cyber-resiliency of the digital payments system, and to contribute to empowering women
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLAN
entrepreneurs. The cyber-resiliency work will focus on the following headline activities per guidance
from USAID:
- Support the industry-wide deployment of the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
solution;
- Develop a sector-wide information security management framework that will allow early
detection of financial cyber threats;
- Develop sustainability plan for cyber security/resilience implementation by financial sector
actors;
- Support information security management in the larger digital payments landscapes to address
or prevent privacy and security risks of public sector institutions, businesses, and private
sector organizations; and
- Institutionalize a sustained awareness program on digital financial and cyber security.
To grow use of e-payments by government, E-PESO will support the BIR to expand affordable e-
payment options for tax collection by enabling it to obtain the filing reference number (FRN) from the
taxpayers that will facilitate accurate posting of the payment. Assistance to the BIR will also include
expanding the breadth of tax forms that will be supported by their electronic tax solutions providers
(eTSPs) to encourage more electronic filing and payment of taxes. The Activity will also assist the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to shift its social cash transfers from limited
purpose cash cards to transaction accounts of beneficiaries using digital means.
To boost e-payments usage by businesses, E-PESO will conduct structured pilots with selected
businesses in order to prepare case studies documenting the quantitative and qualitative benefits
gained by businesses in shifting their payments to electronic means.
All of these interventions need to be supported and sustained by the right e-payments infrastructure
and enabling environment. Therefore, E-PESO will complete the work on the establishment of the
interoperable electronic bills payment in the market, as well as the interoperable cash agent network
(cash-in/cash-out or CICO agents). The latter, which can deliver account opening, and cash deposit
and withdrawal services even in remote places, is important for financial inclusion and for
government/business/person-to-person payments to be done digitally. The Activity will also conduct
an assessment of revenue regulations and action planning for businesses to be able to transition invoice
processing for checks to invoice processing for e-payments. The resulting electronic invoicing scheme
will be interfaced with appropriate electronic payments for invoices. To promote sustainability and
increase participation of financial institutions in the digital payments market and widen its customer
base, E-PESO will work with the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) to expand its
membership and include small-to-medium size banks and EMIs by co-developing a PPMI membership
and ACH participation toolkit.
E-payments will not reach scale if customers do not trust its safety and security. Therefore, E-PESO
will assist the BSP and payments industry in strengthening the cybersecurity of the industry-wide digital
payments system. This includes completing the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
implementation at BSP and extending its deployment to the BSFIs. To support the sustainability of
cyber security/resilience implementation by financial sector actors, the Activity will work with the BSP
and the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) to incorporate a cybersecurity appreciation
module in the financial directors courses to be mandated by the BSP. E-PESO will convene the BSP
and the payments industry participants in designing and institutionalizing an awareness program on
digital financial and cyber security.
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLAN
To contribute to empowerment of women entrepreneurs, E-PESO will collaborate with the National
Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) to build their capacity in implementing a program that
will train women entrepreneurs in effective online selling and in the use of e-payments. The program
will provide the beneficiaries with online merchant registration and onboarding support with leading
e-commerce sites, logistical support for order fulfillment, and access to financial services via cash
agents. E-PESO will also collaborate with Grameen Foundation Philippines for the deployment of cash
agents in the areas where the beneficiaries live or work.
The foregoing proposed activities and initiatives were carefully identified and selected based on their
impact on addressing key remaining gaps or barriers to e-payments growth with consideration to
feasibility in terms of cost and schedule. Some of these proposed activities came out from discussions
with implementing partners during the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Review exercise
conducted by E-PESO in June 2019 such as the development of the PPMI membership and ACH
participation toolkit to assist small-to-medium size banks in offering e-payments to a wider customer
base, and the expansion of the tax types for e-filing and e-payment. In a workshop at the culmination
of the MEL Review, implementing partners also proposed interventions that were already in the
project pipeline, thereby reinforcing the importance of undertaking activities proposed herein, such
as conducting pilots to document and report benefits to businesses shifting to e-payments, establishing
interoperable bills payment and cash agent network, shifting government disbursements to PESONet,
assessing other barriers to e-payments adoption by businesses, including a review of revenue
regulations that may possibly be keeping invoice payments in cash. There were other important
interventions proposed by implementing partners but may not be undertaken by E-PESO given current
funding. Some of these are the establishment of online payments to support a digital economy, capacity
building of BSP, PPMI and payments industry in national payments system, and setting the NRPS
roadmap.
The result of the foregoing activities is an expanded use of cyber secure digital payments that will
contribute to the growth of digital economy and connectivity, consistent with the aims of the Digital
Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership for a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLAN
INTRODUCTION TO USAID/E-PESO
The E-PESO Activity (E-PESO) is a USAID/Philippines project that supports the U.S.-Philippines
Partnership for Growth (PFG) in addressing constraints to sustained and more inclusive economic
growth. E-PESO partners with the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the private sector to
achieve the rapid, widespread adoption of e-payments in a country where 99 percent of payment
transactions still take place through cash.
E-payments offer a secure, cost-effective means for Filipinos to access a broader range of financial
products and services that can help them build assets, better withstand shocks, and participate more
broadly in the formal economy. E-payment services also help better track financial flows, in line with
the GPH’s drive for greater transparency and accountability.
In 2014, the Economist Intelligence Unit recognized the Philippines as a top global leader in promoting
financial inclusion. Worldwide trends show that countries instituting national financial inclusion
strategies also tackle poverty at a higher rate than those that do not. The Central Bank of the
Philippines (BSP) takes the lead in capitalizing on global trends with its National Strategy for Financial
Inclusion, heavily focused on providing most Filipinos access to an electronic transaction account.
E-PESO helps Filipinos benefit from new and innovative electronic payment products, more outlets
that welcome the use of electronic money, improved transparency and accountability in transactions
with government, and a stronger regulatory environment that protects consumers. It supports the
development of a lasting, inclusive e-payment infrastructure that helps to explicitly meet the needs of
Filipinos.
This Work Plan continues to focus on E-PESO’s four sub-purposes:
1: Work for the Rapid Adoption of e-Payments in Financial Systems. E-PESO
supports the digitization of large-scale payment streams in both the private and public sectors.
It provides technical assistance for GPH agencies to improve services and fiscal management
by expanding the use of e-payments in various transactions. E-PESO helps bring the benefits of
digital payments to targeted businesses, including those from the fast-moving consumer goods
industry with large retail payment flows.
2: Expand the Infrastructure for e-Payments. E-PESO supports the establishment of
digital payment services that utilize the existing infrastructure under the BSP’s National Retail
Payment System (NRPS) policy framework. These services include interoperable digital bills
payment services, interoperable cash-in/cash-out agent networks, and merchant payments. E-
PESO helps the industry set up these services and works with government and private
institutional users to pilot and adopt the services.
3: Improve the Enabling Environment for e-Payments. E-PESO supports the BSP in
establishing and implementing an interoperable NRPS. It provides the BSP technical assistance
and training to promote digital security, consumer protection and confidence, financial
inclusion, and e-payment stability within the broader payment system.
4: Address Gaps in the Broader e-Payment Ecosystem. E-PESO promotes global
knowledge sharing of emerging trends to help identify and address supply and demand
constraints to broader e-payment usage. It builds electronic payment ecosystems with a
particular focus on key cities identified under USAID’s Cities Development Initiative.
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLAN
YEAR 5-7 WORK PLAN
Overview
This Work Plan covers a comprehensive set of activities to build on the gains of the efficient,
transparent, and inclusive retail e-payment system which E-PESO helped establish in order to achieve
broad-based growth and financial inclusion. It contains special focus on strengthening the cybersecurity
of the Philippines’ digital payments system, consistent with the objectives of the Digital Connectivity
and Cybersecurity Partnership of the United States Government’s (USG) Indo-Pacific Strategy, as well
as the E-PESO scope of work. Finally, it also includes work on empowering women entrepreneurs by
connecting them to the digital economy.
Risks and Assumptions
Components 1 and 2: Rapid Adoption of e-Payments in Financial Systems, and
Infrastructure for e-Payments Expanded
Interoperable Digital Bills Payment. The interoperable digital bills payment service was soft
launched in August 2019 with Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and Rizal Commercial Banking
Corporation (RCBC) as participating financial institutions under the BSP’s regulatory sandbox. The
service uses PayGate, a value-added service (VAS) to process the ‘request-to-pay’ originating from
merchants and transmitted by the merchants’ bank to the payer’s bank for authorization. Once
transaction is authorized, depending on the authorization mode of the payer’s bank, the payment
transaction is executed through PESONet.
The PESONet-enabled service arrangement has a number of issues:
1. In an online payment transaction (applicable to bills payment and merchant payment
transactions), a message to the merchant is required to confirm the payment transaction’s
success, so the merchant can act accordingly (e.g., post the transaction to reduce the payer’s
liability, trigger the delivery of goods ordered, etc.). Under the current set-up, when the
payer’s bank sends the credit instruction to Philippine Clearing House Corporation—the
Clearing Switch Operator (CSO) of PESONet—a message is instantly sent to the merchant’s
bank by Philippine Clearing House Corporation indicating that the transaction was successful,
even before the transaction has been settled and cleared. However, under PESONet rules,
transactions are settled first before they are cleared. Settlement is done once, at 6:00PM.
Once settled, a clearing instruction is transmitted in batch by the CSO to the receiving bank
to credit the account of the merchant (payee). There is a risk that a transaction may not
actually be settled and later cleared due to a number of reasons, including lack or insufficiency
of funds by the sending bank. However, both payer and merchant were already informed that
the transaction was successful. This could potentially erode the payment system’s credibility.
2. It appears that in order for financial institutions to participate in the interoperable digital bills
payment service they must subscribe to PayGate. Each participating financial institution signs
a bilateral agreement with PayGate to connect and to avail of the ‘request-to-pay’ service.
Based on discussions with Philippine Clearing House Corporation, they set the business rules
for PayGate, including setting switching or processing fees. Both are inconsistent with the
NRPS policy framework requiring payment systems be governed by the PPMI, the industry-
led self-governing body, and that arrangements covered by multilateral agreements amongst
participating financial institutions.
3. It is unclear if PayGate has exclusive franchise to provide ‘request-to-pay’ service, or if VAS
providers like fintechs can provide similar services. There is no clear policy and/or process on
5
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANhow a VAS provider is appointed by the PPMI, or even if it needs appointing at all. This creates
confusion and leads to inaction by players, delaying needed investment in VAS infrastructure.
Further, there is no clear direction from PPMI on when InstaPay ACH can be part of the interoperable
digital bills payment service. It is not clear if PayGate can route ‘request-to-pay’ transactions to InstaPay
ACH participants and process payment transaction through InstaPay. Considering most bill payment
transactions cover amounts less than Php50,000, and transactions require real-time notification to the
biller merchant, InstaPay could be an ideal payment rail for bills payment.
E-PESO will work with the BSP and PPMI to ensure that present interoperable digital bills payment
service arrangement addresses the risks, complies with the NRPS policy framework, and is expanded
to include InstaPay, which is the ideal payment rail for real-time small-value payment transactions.
Cost of Electronic Payment Adoption. Published rates of government servicing banks (GSB) are
prohibitive for government agencies. There is also confusion in government as to who will shoulder
the transaction cost. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) requires payees to shoulder
the transaction cost for payments made through electronic fund transfer (EFT) mode. Government,
through the Public Financial Management (PFM) committee, should clarify or issue a clear policy on
transaction fees. E-PESO will work closely with PFM agencies with specific focus on the Bureau of
Treasury (BTr) mandated to promulgate rules on cash management, clarify the policy, and allow
government to shoulder the transaction fee for disbursement transactions.
In the private sector, large fast-moving consumer goods such as Unilever incur Php20.00 material cost
per check voucher, with processing, printing, and delivery of checks being handled by their banks free
of charge. Until such time that cost of bank-to-bank electronic transfers become cheaper than writing
a check, adoption of electronic payments in trade payment will be difficult. Therefore, banks should
offer EFT to their customers at a price not exceeding Php20.00 per transaction. They should be able
to do so since, with the NRPS, PESONet switching price is only Php 1.00 per e-payment transaction.
E-PESO will publish PESONet transaction fees of participating financial institutions through the
PESONet website to promote increased competition among financial institutions and pull transaction
fees to approximate market price.
Enabling Other Payments Use Cases. With the launch of PESONet and InstaPay ACHs, the
transfer of funds from one financial institution to another financial institution was enabled. However,
the payment uses cases that can be facilitated using the existing PESONet and InstaPay services are
limited to payroll disbursement, loan disbursement, vendor payments, remittance and personal
payments, among others. Both payment systems cannot facilitate key payment streams like merchant
payments (online and face-to-face) and bills payments. The industry should now look at these payments
use cases and develop value-added service layers to cater to these types of transactions. E-PESO is
already working with the industry to launch bills payment service using PESONet and InstaPay ACHs.
Component 3: Enabling Environment for e-Payments Improved
Addressing Barriers to Business-to-Business Electronic Payments. Based on completed
interviews and analysis conducted under Subtask 3.1.1, businesses express high levels of interest and
intention to shift to e-Payments, particularly for supplier-related payments, provided barriers
preventing adoption are addressed, especially BIR’s requirement for hard copies of official receipts
(ORs), Invoices, and Certificates of Withholding Tax (CWTs). Current payment solutions provided
by financial institutions are predominantly checks (for disbursement and collections) and related
supporting manual processes (physical receipt issuances and collections), in compliance with current
regulatory requirements. Financial institutions have expressed the desire to shift these solutions to
less costly and more efficient alternatives.
6
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANIn the meantime, BIR’s current e-invoicing initiative, supported by the Tax Reform for Acceleration
and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law and the Corporate Income Tax and Incentive Rationalization Act bill,
provide opportunities to address these barriers and help reduce checks and increase digital payments,
particularly for supplier payments. See Subtask 3.1.2: Implement E-Invoicing Pilot (p 27) for how
businesses and financial institutions will be enabled to shift to electronic business-to-business (B2B)
payments while being compliant with regulatory requirements.
Common Understanding on PPMI and Joining PPMI. While rural banks and cooperatives have
high level of interest in the Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) and its roles, functions, and
membership requirements and processes, very limited information is available to the public. PPMI is a
very small organization unable to accommodate all queries and requests for clarification. To mitigate
this risk, we will undertake the development of a toolkit for prospective PPMI members. See Subtask
3.2.1: Support PPMI in Expanding Membership and Onboarding New Participants.
Need for More Effective Regulatory Compliance and Assessment in Cybersecurity. Over
the years the BSP has approved pioneering guidelines on information security management with
renewed focus on cybersecurity, promoting the cyber-resiliency of the entire banking industry. The
assessment by E-PESO of BSP’s Circular No. 982 on Enhanced Guidelines on lnformation Security
Management concluded that the guidelines performed very well against the following international
standards: Information Security Management System (ISO 27001); Cyber Resilience Framework–
Committee on Payment and Market Infrastructures; National Institute of Standards and Technology
Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, and Payment Card Industry–Data
Security Standard. The BSP is now monitoring the compliance of BSP Supervised Financial Institutions
(BSFIs) with the guidelines. In the meantime, the BSP is pursuing, on a proof-of-concept (POC) basis,
implementation of a Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) system expected to facilitate regulatory
compliance and assessment from both regulators and BSFIs.
BSP has requested assistance in rolling out the GRC system (See Subtask 3.4.2). To complement BSP’s
GRC solution, a GRC portal—a cost sharing platform—will be developed as an alternative to enable
BSFIs to participate. See Subtask 3.4.3: Support BSFI Participation in the Industry-wide Deployment of
a Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Portal.
Role of Board of Directors and Senior Manager in Setting Cyber Resilience Strategy and
Framework. According to the Bank of International Settlements’ (BIS) Guidance on Cyber Resilience
for Financial Market Infrastructures published in June 20161 the board is “ultimately responsible for
setting the cyber resilience framework and ensuring that cyber risk is effectively managed”. This
includes ensuring consistency of its cyber risk profile with its risk tolerance and overall business
objectives. In order to perform this role, there should be members of the board and senior
management with appropriate skills and knowledge to understand and manage risks posed by cyber
threats, while ensuring that those skills remain current. The cyber resilience expertise of appropriate
senior management and members of the board should include fundamental knowledge of their role
vis-à-vis its cyber resilience strategies and framework. A standard and structured education program
is necessary to build the capacity of these decision makers. This will be addressed in Sub-task 3.4.4,
“Develop Cybersecurity Capability of Financial Executives.”
Need to institutionalize sustained awareness program on digital financial and cyber
security. BSP’s survey reported that 46 percent of those with accounts and using the internet remain
ambivalent about e-Payment due to issues of security and safety. Trust and confidence are required
to encourage adoption of digital payments. Initiatives are ongoing to raise consumer awareness and
1
CPMI-IOSCO – Guidance on cyber resilience for financial market infrastructures – June 2016.
7
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANinterest from other players to participate in other campaigns. Upon discussion, a seeming lack of an
overall framework of objectives and vulnerabilities that need to be addressed was observed. A long-
term, sustainable programmatic approach is needed for consumers to develop trust, safety, and
confidence in the online environment. Further, they need responsible stakeholders, considering that
regulators and the providers are developing the secure environments to ensure their protection.
Component 4: E-Payment Ecosystem Developed in Key Cities Identified under
USAID’s CDI
Internet Connections Improve Over the Life of Project. Connectivity is crucial to widespread
adoption of e-payments, especially in cities outside Metro Manila. Often a poor telecommunications
infrastructure discourages frequent use of e-payments, as it creates perceptions of unreliability.
Telecommunications companies are thus expected to upgrade and improve signal strength, especially
in CDIs, over the life of the activity.
Policy Allowing LGUs/NGAs to Cover Transaction Fees for Government Payments.
Unlike private commercial transactions where merchants bear transaction fees, taxpayers have to pay
transaction fees for government fees e-payments. This hinders usage of e-payments services and will
continue to do so unless a policy allowing LGUs and NGAs to pay for bank fees for e-payments is
enacted. E-PESO will coordinate with the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), mandated to promulgate rules
on cash management, and the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), mandated to provide
policies on local government finance.
Detailed Year 5-7 Work Plan by Component
The following activities and initiatives were carefully identified and selected based on their impact on
addressing key remaining gaps or barriers to e-payments growth. These activities were borne from
discussions with implementing partners during the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Review
exercise conducted by E-PESO in June 2019. They include the development of the PPMI membership
and ACH participation toolkit to assist small-to-medium size banks in offering e-payments to a wider
customer base, and the expansion of the tax types for e-filing and e-payment. E-PESO’s implementing
partners also proposed interventions that were already in the project pipeline, thus reinforcing the
importance of proposed activities such as conducting pilots to document and report the benefits to
businesses of shifting to e-payments, establishing interoperable bills payment and cash agent networks,
shifting government disbursements to PESONet, and assessing other barriers to e-payments adoption
by businesses, including a review of revenue regulations that may be keeping invoice payments in cash.
SUB-PURPOSE 1: RAPID ADOPTION OF E-PAYMENTS IN
FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Overview
E-PESO will continue prioritizing work to enable e-payments at aggregation points, to maximize the
effect of interventions in achieving wholesale adoption of e-payments by businesses and government.
E-PESO will continue its assistance to the BIR in expanding e-payment collection options that may be
adopted by other GPH agencies such as the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), SSS,
Philhealth, and DSWD. E-PESO will leverage its earlier work supporting the Department of Budget
and Management and will work with the Bureau of Treasury to transition check disbursements to
PESONet in select NGAs. It will also assist the payments industry to set-up an interoperable cash
agent network to expand financial access points particularly in unserved and underserved areas, and
support the initial participants with clinics on how to manage their agent networks.
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USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANTask 1.1: Facilitate Adoption of e-Payment Services in Government Agencies
Sub-task 1.1.1: Support DBM in Rolling-Out the BTMS (completed)
The Budget Treasury and Management System (BTMS) is a modern, integrated, accurate, reliable, and
secure information system for the public financial management (PFM) operations of the Government
of the Philippines (GPH). It provides a sustainable, extensible, and flexible government resource
planning solution that can support a range of public financial requirements, as well as be adaptable to
reform and modernization. A key component of DBM’s rollout of BTMS is the training of concerned
government personnel in the use of the new IT-based system. E-PESO will continue to support DBM
in rolling out the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS) to all national government agencies
(NGAs) by developing web-based e-learning courses.
DBM’s Circular No. 2019-4 dated January 14, 2019 prescribes the use of the BTMS-BU by NGAs in
carrying out expenditures under the General Appropriations Act by July 1, 2019. It sets the guidelines
on adoption and use of the BTMS system for budget utilization. It also prescribes two (2) disbursement
frameworks are supported by the BTMS-BU, namely, the Modified Disbursement Scheme (MDS),
operated by government servicing banks (GSB), and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) managed by
the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) through an EFT to payee’s account in any bank.
E-PESO developed e-learning courses for the BTMS budget utilization (BTMS-BU) phase; deployed a
learning management system (LMS) at DBM for learners to access the e-learning courses, and trained
key DBM personnel in e-learning course authoring and LMS maintenance. The system was launched
in May 10, 2019 and turned over to DBM together with the LMS and authoring tool in June 2019.
Rationale. The BTMS is the technology centerpiece of GPH’s public financial management reforms
roadmap aiming to improve public services, increase public integrity and accountability, and manage
resources more effectively and efficiently. This sub-task will facilitate the rollout of BTMS to all national
government agencies (NGAs) nationwide which will support expansion of fiscal space through financial
management. It also leverages on the work done in NRPS as all NGA disbursements processed in
BTMS will eventually be coursed through PESONet ACH.
Implementation Strategy. DBM issued Department Office Order No. 1151 on October 15, 2018
to provide a mandate for the project and enable the joint DBM /E-PESO project team to access DBM’s
resources, including its key personnel and subject matter experts in BTMS. E-PESO is implementing
the project through subcontractor MoodLearning, Inc., which will to develop and deploy e-learning
courses.
Why this Sub-Task will be Successful. DBM is determined to complete the rollout of BTMS to
all GPH agencies within the current administration’s term ending in year 2022, per the mandate
received from the Office of the President under the Public Financial Management (PFM) reform
program. DBM understands that, using traditional training method, it will take a lot of time and
resources to train over 15,000 target number of learners. Moreover, it has dedicated a Technical
Working Group to see this project through to its successful conclusion.
9
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANPerson Y5/6 Milestones Y5 Q3 Y5 Q4 Y6 Q1 Y6 Q2 Y6 Q3
(Apr-Jun (Jul-Sep Oct-Dec (Jan-Mar (Apr-Jun
Responsible
2019) 2019) 2019) 2020) 2020)
C1 Lead BTMS e-learning BTMS e- 300 learners 4,000 learners 8,000 learners 15,000
courses and LMS learning in 3 NGAs, in 100 NGAs in 200 NGAs learners in
operational; E- system including (cumulative) (cumulative) 400 NGAs
learning courses launch DBM, (cumulative)
being utilized in three actively using
NGAs, including the e-learning
DBM courses
Indicator 1.1:
Adoption of new e- Note: See target in
payment services as Sub-Task 1.1.4
collection/
disbursement
option in five
national GPH
agencies
Resources Needed
Sub-task 1.1.2: Support a GPH Agency with Influence Over a Large Base – Pag-Ibig and/or SSS
This Sub-task was removed from the work plan as these GPH agencies have demostrated their capacity
to implement their e-payments adoption projects with their preferred banks. The Sub-task has also
been taken over by other priorities.
Sub-task 1.1.3: Support a GPH Agency with Influence Over a Large Base – Department of
Social Welfare and Development
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the lead agency in the
implementation of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program (4Ps), to benefit poor and highly vulnerable Filipino families. A policy program of the National
Government since 2008, it aims to ensure that children ages 0-18 of beneficiary families receive
adequate health care and continue their education, and, eventually, for families to overcome the state
of poverty. 4Ps covers around 4.4 million families who get their monthly support every three months
largely in cash or using cash cards issued by state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines; cash is disbursed
by LandBank-authorized agents while cash cards in the hands of about 1.7 million beneficiaries can be
used only to withdraw from LandBank and/or LandBank authorized partners.
DSWD also implements an unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program, also known as the tax subsidy
program under the recent Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law or R.A. No. 10963
providing cash subsidies to 10 million indigent Filipino families and/or individuals, including senior
citizens, to cushion the effect of adjustments in the excise tax of petroleum products and sweetened
beverages. Each beneficiary received Php200/month on the first year of implementation and
Php300/month for each succeeding year. The program had a 2018 budget of Php24.5 billion for cash
grants2. By end of July 2018, 5.6 million beneficiaries had received their Php2,400 cash grant for the
whole year3.
In March 2019, DSWD agreed with the BSP and Department of Finance (DOF) to transition from
cash cards to transaction accounts for the combined 10 million CCT and UCT beneficiaries, and to
use these accounts to disburse their periodic cash grants by crediting the amounts. This will contribute
to increasing financial inclusion among the bottom-of-the-pyramid and growing e-payment
transactions.
2
Memorandum Circular No. 03 Series of 2018, Department of Social Welfare and Development, 2018
3
Over 5.6M poor Pinoys receive tax aid under TRAIN law, Department of Social Welfare and Development,
2018
10
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANE-PESO will assist DSWD to undertake a 4Ps policy review with the objective of integrating financial
inclusion into the programs’ human capital development and poverty alleviation goals. This will help
promote more sustainable and inclusive economic development. It will also improve existing financial
literacy training modules used by DSWD, incorporating financial management skills (e.g. savings,
budgeting, credit, etc.), capacity-building programs like livelihood and entrepreneurship to improve
credit worthiness and bankability, and cybersecurity to ensure that beneficiaries are protected when
transacting electronically using their accounts. E-PESO will assist the DSWD to develop a pilot
implementation plan and to roll out the pilot in selected areas. The pilot will include opening of
transaction accounts and a train-the-trainer rollout of the financial literacy training. E-PESO will
undertake the project in close coordination with key stakeholders like BSP, Commission on Audit
(COA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), among others. E-PESO will also work with FIs to
set-up an interoperable cash agent network to support the cash withdrawal requirement of
beneficiaries of social subsidy programs particularly in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas
(GIDA) (Sub-task 2.2.1). Deployment of cash agents in the pilot areas will be coordinated by E-PESO
with DSWD and participating financial institutions.
Rationale. Shifting all payments of cash grants under GPH’s social subsidy programs to e-payment
supports the government’s anti-corruption drive. It will increase public trust in the government as
the program will be run more transparently, and improve public service and satisfaction with
government because program delivery will be more efficient and less costly. Also, migrating the store
of value from cash and/or cash cards to BDA and using the accounts to disburse cash grants will benefit
the 10 million combined CCT and UCT beneficiaries, the most vulnerable segment of society, through
a lowered cost of obtaining their cash grants, increased control of their finances, more incentives to
save, better security, improved speed and timely disbursements, and greater financial inclusion4.
Why this Sub-Task will be Successful. DSWD’s core mandate is to coordinate social protection
and poverty reduction solutions for the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged. It recognizes the
importance of eliminating corruption and improving transparency in its social subsidy programs
through e-payments. Cash grants will be credited directly to the account of the beneficiary without
the manual handling which provides opportunities for corruption. It also recognizes the importance
of financial inclusion in reducing, if not eradicating poverty in the country. Opening up e-payment
options for the 10 million combined CCT and UCT beneficiaries, which are among the poorest of the
poor, is one of the critical first steps towards financial inclusion. Disbursing cash grants through the
accounts of beneficiaries will encourage beneficiaries to use their accounts for their financial
transactions, thereby realizing the benefits promised by e-payments. Further, the national government
can benefit through cost savings in distributing cash grants via transaction accounts and utilizing cash-
in/cash-out (CICO) agents in GIDAs and greater oversight of national government budget valued at
PhP 80 billion per year.
4
The Opportunities of Digitizing Payments, The World Bank, Better-than-Cash Alliance, Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, 2014.
11
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANPerson Responsible Y6/7 Milestones Y6 Q1 Y6 Q2 Y6 Q3 Y6 Q4 Y7 Q1
(Oct-Dec (Jan-Mar Apr-Jun (Jul-Sep (Oct-Dec
2019) 2020) 2020) 2020) 2020)
C1 Lead Policies and Joint letter New policies Rollout of pilot Rollout of
procedures in on the & procedures in selected pilot in
place to shift project’s drafted; areas; selected
CCT disburse- terms of areas
ments to reference Improved completed;
Implementation
transaction signed by financial
of improved
accounts; DSWD and management/ Implementati
financial
E-PESO; literacy on of
management
Financial program; improved
/literacy
management / Dept. Order financial
training
literacy training issued to Pilot management
program in
improved; provide the implementati / literacy
pilot areas
official on plan training
(train-the-
Pilot mandate for completed program in
trainor).
implementation this project pilot areas
plan developed and set-up completed;
Rollout of pilot the TWG
in selected areas
Indicator DI 4: More predictable and
reliable financial tools for the poor;
Number of financial products, services
or applications that are
designed/enhanced to meet the needs 1 1
of low income clients.
Indicator 1.1: Adoption of new e-
payment services as collection/ 1 1
disbursement option in five national
GPH agencies.
Indicator 1.4: Over 16,000 people 6,386 3,184 3,284
trained (via consumer education) on
the uses of e-payments and m-money
services for improved household
financial management.
Resources Needed Short-term Short-term Short-term Short-term
consultant consultant consultant consultant
Financial
management/
literacy
materials (to
be provided
by BSP)
Sub-task 1.1.4: Support a GPH Agency with Influence Over a Large Base – Bureau of Treasury
E-PESO supports the DBM in rolling out the BTMS (see Sub Task 1.1.1) to all NGAs nationwide The
BTMS is a common, modern, integrated, accurate, reliable, and secure information system for the PFM
operations of the GPH. It provides a sustainable government resource planning solution that is
extensive and flexible; supports a range of public financial requirements, and is adaptable to reform.
On January 14, 2019, DBM issued Circular No. 2019-4 establishing guidelines on the adoption and use
of the BTMS system for budget utilization (BTMS-BU). In this circular, DMB prescribes the use of the
BTMS-BU by NGAs in carrying out expenditures under the General Appropriations Act by July 1,
2019. The circular prescribes two (2) disbursement frameworks that are supported by the BTMS-
BU, namely, the Modified Disbursement Scheme (MDS) operated by government servicing banks
(GSB) through an auto-debit arrangement for payees maintaining an account with the GSB, and the
Treasury Single Account (TSA) managed by the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) through an electronic fund
transfer (EFT) to payee’s bank account in any bank.
E-PESO will continue to support BTMS rollout by assisting the BTr in implementing the EFT
disbursement method direct from the TSA through PESONet. BTr is mandated to efficiently and
12
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANeffectively manage the financial resources of the government, including promulgation of policies on
cash management. BTr is also responsible for funding disbursement accounts of NGAs with GSBs
under the national expenditure program (general appropriations act) of government. As envisioned
by BTr and DBM, disbursements of NGAs can be centralized under BTr once BTMS is operational,
thereby streamlining the disbursement process and making it more efficient. Under the BTMS, NGAs
will process and approve disbursement vouchers (DV) which will be routed to BTr for disbursement.
E-PESO will help BTr review all disbursement policies and regulations; identify policy gaps and make
policy recommendations to address implementation constraints; work with Landbank to ensure the
technical solution is in place to enable disbursement through PESONet for transactions processed in
BTMS, and pilot PESONet disbursement in DBM, BTr, and DSWD.
Rationale. The project is a follow-on to the BTMS e-learning system project which is currently
enabling the deployment of BTMS to all NGAs. E-PESO is assisting GPH expand fiscal space through
faster and more efficient way to disburse funds under NGAs public expenditure program by migrating
check disbursements to PESONet through the BTMS. This will be achieved when policies and
regulations are in place supporting the adoption of PESONet and the technical solution to interface
Landbank’s PESONet service with BTMS in place.
Implementation Strategy. E-PESO will assist BTr by reviewing pertinent policies, identifying policy
gaps, and defining the business processes and the system requirements (interface between BTMS and
e-banking service of GSB) to enable disbursements through PESONet. Policy issues will be raised to
both DBM and BTr as a result of the policy review. The technical interface between BTMS and the e-
banking systems of GSBs will be coordinated by E-PESO with DBM for implementation.
Why this Sub-Task will be Successful. The BTr and DBM have expressed commitment to migrate
the remaining check disbursements of NGAs to PESONet. With DBM Circular 2019-4, all NGAs are
now required to use BTMS-BU by July 1, 2019. Further, the circular supports EFT as a mode of
disbursement in addition to the existing MDS mode. Per BTr and DBM, all NGA disbursements will
be centralized with BTr which will make NGA disbursement efficient. Through this project, the EFT
mode in NGA disbursements will be enabled.
Person Responsible Y6/7 Milestones Y6 Q1 Y6 Q2 Y6 Q3 Y6 Q4 Y7 Q1
(Oct-Dec (Jan-Mar (April-June (July-Sept (Oct-Dec
2019) 2020) 2020) 2020) 2020)
C1 Lead Circular (policy) on the use Circular Interface
of EFT for non-MDS (policy) on between
disbursements under BTMS; the use of BTMS and
EFT for non- PESONet /e-
Interface between BTMS MDS banking
and PESONet /e-banking disbursemen system of
system of GSB; ts under GSB
Use of PESONet by select BTMS
Use of
NGAs. PESONet by
NGAs
Indicator 1.1: Adoption of new e-
payment services as collection/
disbursement option in five national 3 NGAs 3
GPH agencies. (Note: This indicator is
linked to Sub-Task 1.1.1)
Resources Needed Short-term Short-term
consultant consultant
13
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANSub-task 1.1.5: Support a GPH Agency with Influence Over a Large Base – Bureau of Internal
Revenue
E-PESO supports the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to shift its tax collection to e-payments from
the inefficient over-the-counter (OTC) cash or check payments. By end 2018, about 80 percent of
tax payment transactions were still manual with only 20 percent e-payment— i.e. online banking,
credit/debit/ATM card and mobile payment. Significantly shifting tax collections to e-payments enables
BIR to provide taxpayers with a convenient, safe, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective way of paying
taxes.
E-PESO helps the BIR to expand e-payment options for tax collection. Earlier, E-PESO assisted the
BIR to implement mobile and online payments (credit, debit and ATM cards) as options for taxpayers
filing through the eBIRForms system, to complement e-payments via e-banking services of authorized
agent banks for taxpayers mandated to use BIR’s Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS). On
August 15, 2019, E-PESO and BIR soft launched the PESONet-enabled interoperable digital bills
payment service for tax collection as an added option catering to both eBIRForms and eFPS filers. The
service was made available through Landbank as BIR’s merchant bank, with RCBC as the sending bank.
More financial institutions are expected to participate in Q4 2019 once the service is approved by the
BSP for full rollout. The new facility is expected to shift over 15 million OTC tax payments to digital
payments. E-PESO is also assisting BIR set up a system to generate a unique filing reference number
(FRN) to be used by financial institutions to process tax payments through the interoperable digital
bills payment service. This will improve taxpayer experience, which currently requires taxpayers to
visit Landbank’s Link.Biz Portal. With the FRN system, taxpayers can initiate payment from the
eBIRForms immediately after e-filing or directly from the online or mobile banking service of the
taxpayer’s bank. This also improves the matching of tax returns filed and paid by the BIR.
E-PESO also supports the digitalization of frontline services (e-services) and integration with e-
payments to shift transactions from manual/OTC to more efficient, convenient, and cost-effective e-
transactions. This will make taxpayer services transparent and minimize, if not eliminate, corruption.
On October 15, 2019, E-PESO and the BIR launched Hackatax, an innovation challenge aiming to bring
talented and skilled IT professionals and students across the country to help develop innovative
technology solutions for the BIR. Through the Hackatax, BIR will tap the software development
community to help address taxpayer pain points when transacting with BIR—from registration, to
filing and payment of taxes, and other frontline services. The solutions will be owned, marketed,
operated and maintained by the participants. BIR will ensure that the back-end IT infrastructure is in
place to support the applications. The solutions that will be developed are targeted to be used by
micro and small enterprises (including self-employed individuals and professionals), which account for
over 90 percent of tax filers. The first Hackatax is expected for completion in Q1 of 2020, with the
winning solutions available to taxpayers before the April 15, 2020 annual income tax filing deadline.
Rationale. The project supports the expansion of fiscal space through improved tax administration.
It promotes trade and investment, supports the anti-red tape good governance policy, and eases the
way of doing business. It promotes government operational efficiency and public service quality.
Implementation Strategy. GPH seeks to improve tax collection and tax collection efficiency to
finance its ‘Build, Build, Build’ program aimed at growing investments and economic activities. Shifting
tax collection to e-payments and digitizing its business processes allows BIR to improve its tax
administration capability to deliver its tax collection target to support government programs at the
same time making taxpayer experience more convenient. E-PESO will partner with both the BIR and
DOF to support attainment of these objectives.
Why this Sub-Task will be Successful. Government and the taxpaying public demand improved
convenience. IT and banking industries (supply-side) are supportive. Software providers are developing
14
USAID/E-PESO Y5Q3 – Y7Q1 WORK PLANtax software applications to make filing convenient through e-filing while banks are developing an
interoperable digital bills payment service to make payment secure, efficient and convenient. E-PESO’s
facilitation leverages these interests to improve BIR’s tax administration capabilities.
Person Responsible Y5/6 Milestones Y5 Q4 Y6 Q1 Y6 Q2 Y6 Q3 Y6 Q4
(Jul-Sep 2019) (Oct-Dec 2020) (Jan-Mar (Apr-Jun (Jul-Sep
2020) 2020) 2020)
C1 Lead Adoption of digital Soft launch of digital Full Deployment Launch of
bills payment service bills payment implementation of FRN new e-
by BIR service for tax of digital bills system in services
collection payment eBIRForms under
Deployment of FRN service for tax System Hackatax
system collection
New e-services with Kick-off of
e-payment under Hackatax
Hackatax
Indicator 1.1: Adoption of Note: BIR was
new e-payment services as already counted in
collection/ disbursement option 2017; current
in five national GPH agencies initiatives are
continuing projects to
increase e-payment
usage
Resources Needed Software Software
development development
firm for FRN firm for FRN
Project Project
Short-term Short-term
consultant for consultant
Hackatax for Hackatax
Sub-task 1.1.6: Support a GPH Agency with Influence Over a Large Base – Department of
Trade and Industry
E-PESO is supporting the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ease the way of doing business
in the country as well as promote the shift to digital economy through e-commerce. The DTI, through
its Competitiveness and Ease of Doing Business Group (CEODBG) is tasked to implement the
Business Name Registration System (BNRS) to improve the ease of starting a new business. The BNRS
is an online facility where sole proprietors (mostly micro and small enterprises) register their
businesses. Its upgraded version is expected to be launched in 2019. DTI, through its eCommerce
Office under CEODBG, is leading the promotion of e-commerce to enable and empower local
businesses, particularly the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which make up 99.6 percent
of Philippine enterprises. It is currently updating the eCommerce Roadmap up to Year 2022.
E-PESO will provide technical assistance to DTI to integrate e-payment options, including PESONet
through an interoperable digital bills payment service, to the BNRS as well as other e-payment services
such as credit/debit cards and mobile payments. E-PESO will also provide assistance in updating the e-
commerce roadmap with inputs on the local payments landscape and e-payments action plan.
Rationale. E-PESO supports the GPH’s drive to promote trade and investment and implement anti-
red tape and good governance policies. The project also promotes government operational efficiency
and public service quality.
Implementation Strategy. E-PESO will leverage the interoperable digital bills payment service that
will be introduced by the industry (supply side) and work with the DTI (demand side) to enable the
service through integration with BNRS to improve the ease of starting a business and to improve
15
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