A ranking official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday encouraged all local government units (LGU) in the country to adopt the “Paleng-QR PH Plus” program to promote full cashless payment system in the markets and smaller transport utilities.

BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said cashless payments in market stalls, micro and small establishments, as well as in tricycles and jeepneys is the future of the Filipino people.

“We are encouraging all the LGUs to adopt Paleng-QR PH Plus. We want everybody to go cashless, kasi nakikita natin yung (because we see the) advantages of going cashless,” Puyat said at the sideline of the 2022 Outstanding BSP Stakeholders Appreciation Ceremonies at the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel in Lapu-Lapu City.

Puyat said going cashless payments will also encourage market vendors, tricycle operators and drivers’ associations (TODA), and other smaller entrepreneurs to open bank accounts.

“So yun naman kasi talaga yung gusto natin, kasi mas mabilis lalo na kapag meron kang bank account, ito yung tinatawag natin na deposit account (So that’s what we really want, because it’s faster especially when you have a bank account, this is what we call a deposit account),” she said.

Puyat and Mayor Junard Chan led the launching of the program in this historical city on Feb. 17, where the city government and the BSP partnered in promoting the use of quick response (QR) codes in the cashless transactions in the markets and transport terminals here.

According to her, Lapu-Lapu City is the first to pass an ordinance to adopt a cashless payment system, even as she cited the “eagerness of the Cebuanos to embrace this new system of payment.

However, this city was the fifth city in the Philippines to launch the program following the cities of Baguio, Davao, Tagbilaran and Naga.

Puyat said Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto also wants to adopt Paleng-QR in his locality.

She said the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Naga (Cebu province) will soon pass their own version of the measure that will adopt the QR system in buying goods and in riding public transport.

The program helps vendors and drivers open bank accounts, making payment transactions more convenient and cost-effective using locally generated QR codes.

The BSP and the LGU of Lapu-Lapu will hold financial literacy sessions to ensure that by the end of this year, 80 percent of the 700 vendors or 560 market stall owners and 50 percent or 3,241 out of 6,481 transport group members in the city will go cashless in their transactions. (PNA)