Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 26) — The Marcos administration should “double down” on due diligence to avoid irregularities in contracts involving financial technology players, a former lawmaker said, as he cited an alleged anomalous agreement of the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and payment platform PisoPay.
As the pandemic ramped up the digital transformation of government agencies, former Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Representative Jericho Nograles urged the government to be “more prudent” with potential partners from the private sector, especially fintech firms and digital banks as they pose monetary repercussions and potential data breach.
The government, he added, must only engage with those with “credible and clean” track record.
“The government must adapt to the demands of the new normal, but it also has to be careful in choosing its fintech partners,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
“While there are a lot of credible players in the Philippines, there are also those that have proven that they are out to overcharge consumers for personal gain,” Nograles added.
The BOQ was hit by lawmakers in September 2021, as they questioned the collection of ₱370 for issuance of the international certificate of vaccination or “yellow cards,” of which ₱70 goes to the fintech company.
Nograles also said at the time that the BOQ failed to observe a competitive selection process in choosing PisoPay to collect the fee. The BOQ earlier said it had already terminated its contract with PisoPay.
“The PisoPay-BOQ fiasco was a disservice to the Filipino people. We should not let this happen again,” Nograles said.
In his first State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said his administration would push for digitalization. He reiterated this vision during the National Information and Communications Technology Summit on Wednesday, as he called on Congress to pass the e-governance and e-government bills.
