The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has partnered with electronic solutions market leader MyEG Philippines, Inc. for the implementation of its new and improved online payment service to further enhance the ease of doing business, especially during this pandemic.
“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,” according to PEZA Director General Charito Plaza.
This comes after the PEZA Director General signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with MyEG PH Chief Executive Officer Ann Margaret Saldaña last February 2021, with PEZA Deputy Director General for Policy & Planning Tereso Panga and MyEG PH Senior Business Development Manager Tonyvic Sarte present as witnesses.
“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 login 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,” said MyEG Philippines CEO Ann Saldaña.
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 more than 80,000 cash payment counters nationwide. All that PEZA members need to do is point their web browsers 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, some 4,665 companies pay for their PEZA 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.
The government agency 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, and Pampanga to name a few. At present, PEZA-accredited buildings and office spaces are mostly in Makati with around 44 operating economic zones, followed by Quezon City with 38 and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig with 26.