State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has partnered with the Metrobank Card Corporation (MCC) for an electronic payment scheme that is expected to boost collection of real property tax in the cities of Taguig and Valenzuela, a top official said.
DBP president and chief executive officer Cecilia C. Borromeo said that the DBP-MCC Real Property Tax (RPT) Payment program aims to encourage responsible citizenship while providing local government units with a more efficient way of collecting real property taxes.
“Residents of Taguig City and Valenzuela City may opt to pay either in cash or using their Metrobank cards to settle their real property taxes on installment basis via the DBP Point-of-Sale terminals deployed in the said LGUs,” Borromeo said.
The cities of Taguig and Valenzuela have an estimated population of around 805,000 and 620,000 respectively. Taguig has more than 7,000 registered commercial and industrial establishments while Valenzuela has over 15,000 based on latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
MCC is a joint venture of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank) and Australia New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ). It is one of the top credit card companies in the country today.
Borromeo said MCC has also offered its cardholders with a balance conversion facility that will convert real property tax payments into light monthly installments, which would provide a more affordable, convenient and desirable option for the taxpaying public.
She said this initiative is in line with the bank’s efforts to help build the financial payments infrastructure in the public sector adding that “…DBP is aiming to become known as the ‘Digital Bank of the Philippines’ in terms of providing seamless and innovative banking and payment solutions to the Filipino public…”