BanKO pioneers mobile money payroll with Pulilan LGU

August 2013

BPI BanKO, in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has partnered with the Local Government of Pulilan, Bulacan to automate its payroll and water utility payment system.

The partnership marks the first time that employees of a local government unit in the Philippines will receive their salaries using mobile money technology.  In addition, more than 5,000 Pulilan households will now be able to pay for their water bills using their cellphones, with BanKO’s PayBills service.

The Pulilan LGU, as with most municipal governments, used to disburse the salaries of their 280 employees in cash.  The cash-based method incurs high costs in cash-handling, security and back-end operations, and exposes the cash to threats of corruption and threat. 

To address this problem, the Pulilan LGU worked with BanKO in implementing the first mobile money payroll and payment system, enabling operational efficiency and tracking of financial flows.  This is in line with the Philippine government’s objective of achieving transparency and security in handling public funds.

“BPI BanKO is honored to be part of the pioneering efforts of the Municipality of Pulilan and USAID in introducing the mobile money payroll system to its LGU employees.  Consequently, by being BanKO accountholders, the municipal employees become financially empowered by gaining access to formal banking services,” said Teresita Tan, President of BPI BanKO. 

According to Gloria Steele, Mission Director of USAID/Philippines, “This is a testament of our commitment to achieving broad-based, economic growth and financial inclusion for the Municipality of Pulilan. The U.S. Government strongly believes in the importance of leveraging partnerships in pursuing sustainable solutions to key development challenges.”

Pulilan Mayor Vicente Esguerra added, “This is a milestone for Pulilan as we lead the way in making government payroll disbursement more efficient and safer, and expanding financial services that are convenient to constituents.”

With the success of this partnership, BanKO hopes to replicate the same payroll disbursement model in more areas. “BanKO envisions that Pulilan will blaze the trail for other cities and municipalities to adapt the mobile payroll disbursement platform. We look forward to establishing the same partnership with more LGUs across the country,” concludes Tan.

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Employees of the Municipality of Pulilan (standing) proudly display their mobile phones as they receive their mobile money payroll for the first time. Seated are Pulilan Councilor Ricardo Candito, USAID Deputy Mission Director Reed Aeschliman, Pulilan Mayor Vicente Esguerra, DBM Undersecretary Richard Moya,and BPI BanKO President Teresita Tan.

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