State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has signed an agreement with the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to automate the collection and remittance of customs fees and charges that are generated through the 17 customs districts nationwide, a top official said.
DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said the joint initiative with BoC, along with the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) and PayMaya Philippines, would utilize DBP’s online banking system and ensure seamless transfer of funds to state coffers.
“DBP takes pride in this endeavor which promotes the use of digital finance in ensuring transparency in customs collection,” Herbosa said.
DBP is the eighth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and has a branch network of 129 offices and 11 branch-lite units nationwide. BoC is the second largest revenue earning agency in the National Government next to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Under the agreement, all collections and payments made in and deposited to DBP will be remitted to a BTr-BoC-PayMaya clearing account. In addition, DBP would provide additional service through its Digital Banking Portal or DBP2 to enable BTr to conveniently monitor remittance of customs collections.
Herbosa said this joint undertaking is an essential element in the National Government’s efforts to shift to digital platforms to increase efficiency and effectiveness in its revenue generation activities.
He said these types of partnerships that involve active private sector participation would be an ideal model for other state agencies seeking to bridge the gaps in their service delivery systems.
“The way forward for government is to transcend from the typical and ineffective manual processes and leverage on available information and technology resources to improve the level of a typical public service such as customs collections,” Herbosa said.
# # #