MAKATI, Philippines – Even with the presence of several electronic payment systems, the Philippines is still far from getting into a cashless society. Nevertheless, the idea persists and is not stopping even local firms from getting into this business.

There are a few payment gateways in the Philippines and most of these follow the concept of PayPal. These include Mozcom’s PayEasy and AsiaPay. Mobile telecommunications firms, such as Globe and Smart, are also going into this through Smart Money and G-Gash.

The concept of an electronic payment gateway is that a user would only carry a card to pay for certain products and services, like a debit card. Even without an e-card, a consumer can still pay for these services by inputting username and password.

Essentially, a payment gateway uses the Internet to communicate with merchants and banks to allow for smooth transactions.

Another company that is hoping to convince more people to go electronic cash is ECPay, a local firm that started in 2001. The company services mostly local merchants but it is now targeting other markets, particularly overseas Filipinos.

ECPay General Manager Jason Briones aid the company is still largely focusing on expanding their local merchant partners, currently numbered at almost 30, with a total of 3,500 branches nationwide.

Briones said they have around 50,000 transactions valued at P10 million per day. In a month, they transact around P4 billion per month, most of which are for utility bills payment.

The company is focusing to expand their network of local merchants, as well as introducing some new electronic products for consumers. Some of these include improved services for prepaid credit and electronic ticketing payments.

ECPay President Jude Aguilar said that additional targets would be schools and medical facilities. Aguilar said that by linking up with schools, parents will be able to pay for matriculation or hospital bills.

“This is also a nifty service especially for OFWs since they will know where their hard-earned money is going,” Aguilar said.

In addition, Aguilar said the company is also looking to open their first office abroad to address the OFW market. One country they are looking at is Hong Kong.

“This is for our international bills payment to compliment other remittance services,” Aguilar said.