By Alithea De Jesus
Mindful of the need to be efficient and also to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority unveiled its online payment system. This will also bolster the ease of doing business especially during this time of the pandemic.
To complete and roll out this innovative adaption, PEZA revealed its strategic partner MyEG Philippines, Inc. for the implementation of its new and improved online payment service. MyEG PH is the country’s leader in electronic solutions championing government services online automation.
The strategic partnership was sealed during the first quarter of 2021 between PEZA Director General Charito Plaza signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and MyEG PH Chief Executive Officer Ann Margaret Saldaña, and witnessed by PEZA Deputy Director-General for Policy & Planning Tereso Panga and MyEG PH Senior Business Development Manager Tonyvic Sarte.
“Pursuant to the government’s digital transformation strategy and in line with PEZA’s advocacy of pivoting from manual to online processes, PEZA embarks on an online payment solution for its clients through MyEG to afford greater convenience to the public and to mitigate incidents of breaches. The pandemic also accelerated PEZA’s shift to digital payments,” said Director General Plaza.
Meanwhile, MyEG Philippines CEO Ann Saldaña noted that “It is our pleasure to work with PEZA on providing an efficient government service and the ease of doing business to its members. This partnership will be beneficial to PEZA members as they no longer need to go to the PEZA office and perform payments. They can just log in online and do the transaction from there. It will be easier, faster, and more convenient, plus they have numerous options on how they want to pay.”
Through this partnership, PEZA is now able to provide its members a safe and efficient online payment facility to conveniently settle and pay various fees which includes
Advance Payment, Fines and Penalties, Admin Fee, Import Cargo Processing Fee, Registration Application Fee, Start of Commercial Operation (SCO) Application Fee, Expansion of Production Capacity Application Fee, Letter of Authority Processing Fee, Constructive/Indirect Export Processing Fee, Availment of Incentives Processing Fee, Certification/True Copies Processing Fee, Boatnote, PEZA Seal, and New Project Application Fee, online with numerous payment options available such as credit/debit card, GCash, PayMaya, bank transfer, or via 80,000+ cash payment counters nationwide. All that PEZA members need to do is go to http://www.peza.gov.ph and choose EPCS (Electronic Payment & Collection System) under PEZA Online. This also addresses its current limitation wherein members can only do transactions during office hours while experiencing a long queue at the cashier’s office.
Previously, PEZA’s 4,665 companies pay for their application fees, processing fees, licenses, taxes, and system fees either by going to the PEZA Head Office, through PEZA zones, or the joint PEZA-Customs Offices (JPCO) at the ports either via cash or company cheque.
PEZA is the top export-oriented investment promotion agency mandated to promote investments, create employment, and generate exports by extending assistance, registering, granting incentives to and facilitating the business operations of investors in export-oriented manufacturing and service facilities inside selected areas throughout the country.
PEZA manages 417 operating economic zones nationwide. Aside from central business districts in Bonifacio Global City, Makati, Ortigas and Quezon City, there are also economic zones in other big cities such as Batangas, Cebu, Baguio, Subic, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Pampanga and more. Currently, PEZA-accredited buildings and office spaces are mostly in Makati with around 44 operating economic zones. Meanwhile, they have 26 operating economic zones in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig and 38 operating economic zones in Quezon City.
