One thousand residents of Barangay Rizal in Makati City will be the recipients of the first batch of Makatizen Cards to be distributed by the city government led by Mayor Abigail Binay on Saturday.
The Makatizen Card is a multi-purpose card, which can be used by half a million residents and city hall employees for official, personal and financial transactions.
Binay will lead the ceremonial launch and distribution of the ready-to-use card to be held at the covered court of Barangay Rizal in Floraville Street at 10 a.m.
The first batch of Makatizen Cards will be distributed to residents of the said village who have passed pre-screening and successfully registered for the program.”©
Romulo Salgado Jr., officer-in-charge of the city’s Information and Community Relations Department, said the merchants, including fish ball vendors and GCash outposts, will be on hand to allow the new cardholders to experience the Card’s efficacy in real-time.”©
The Card is a public private partnership project of Makati and G-xchange and iBayad Online Ventures Inc. It is a comprehensive universal card system which offers residents, students and city government employees expanded and improved access to government services.
The card allows recipients to receive cash allowances, stipends, and other cash benefits, including those provided under the Makati Health Program (Yellow Card), Senior Citizens program (Blu Card), PWD card and Solo Parent Card, among others.
“Aside from making day-to-day tasks much more convenient for Makatizens, the project also allows greater transparency in the implementation of the city’s various social welfare programs, thereby ensuring that the right people receive the right benefits in the most efficient way,” Binay explained.
The card can also be used to pay fees and taxes, personal remittances and other financial transactions.
More importantly, the magnetic strip contains vital information about bearer: his address, gender, blood type, as well as emergency contact numbers.
The card is also equipped with a Near-Field Communication feature, which will allow city offices equipped with iBayad machine readers to verify the identity of residents and employees with just a single tap.