State-run Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) yesterday unveiled an electronic payment portal (EPP) to reduce face-to-face transactions and comply with the “new normal” scheme due to the prevalence of the coronavirus disease.
The e-payment portal will house and host all payment systems of ports under the control of the PPA and seamlessly connect it through a number of government and commercial banks joining the program as well as non-bank institutions for a variety of online payment modes such as payment centers, credit cards and debit cards.
Jay Daniel Santiago, PPA general manager, said the e-payment portal has been in the pipeline and is continuously being improved but its completion and implementation was fast-tracked due to the spread of the coronavirus disease to limit person-to-person transactions.
“We are really keen on automating our collection of port charges to reduce face-to-face transaction, thus, boosting the integrity of our process,” Santiago said.
Under this scheme, the EPP will be the central portal for doing electronic exchanges specifically for payment of port transactions.
The EPP is integrated with PPA’s legacy application as well as its online systems such as the Electronic Accreditation System (eAS), Electronic Permit Management System (ePMS) and Internet-based Port Operations and Receipting for Terminals System (iPORTS).
