A lawmaker from Camarines Sur has called for the swift congressional approval of the House approved measure that would allow convenience stores, pharmacies, and other highly accessible retail outlets to act as additional service delivery channels of banks in remote and unbanked communities.
Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the passage of the proposed Bangko sa Baryo Act would allow banks to reach far-flung communities by tapping retail outlets as their cash agents.
He said Congress could help the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas meet its target of at least 70 percent of adult Filipinos having bank accounts by December 2022 at the earliest.
Villafuerte is the principal author of House Bill 6924 that was approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading on Aug. 11, and was received by the Senate on Aug. 19.
A counterpart measure has been filed in the Senate by Senator Grace Poe that remains pending at the committee level.
“Covid-19 has made it imperative for us to act fast in realizing President [Rodrigo] Duterte’s goal of financial inclusion for all Filipinos as those who are unbanked or have no access to financial services were the least prepared financially to cope with the economic impact of the pandemic,” Villafuerte said.
The cash grants under the government’s social protection programs could also have been efficiently and rapidly distributed if the beneficiaries had national IDs along with bank accounts or access to digital payment channels, said Villafuerte.
He was the lead author of the House-approved versions of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Republic Act 11469 and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or RA 11494.
He expressed hope that senators would take prompt action on the measure as Congress officially resumes session this week following its latest recess.
The Senate resumed a week earlier to start discussing the proposed 2021 national budget bill, but it suspended session on Nov. 12 in the wake of Typhoon “Ulysses” that battered Metro Manila.
“I hope that the Senate will act swiftly on Senator Poe’s counterpart measure on our proposed Bangko sa Baryo Act so that we could have it passed this year,” Villafuerte said.
Since 2017, the BSP has been allowing retail outlets such as stores and pharmacies to operate as cash agents through its Circular 940, and has also allowed banks to set up branch-lite units or BLUs through Circular 987 in line with its goal of at least 70 percent of adult Filipinos having bank accounts as early as December 2022 or 2023.
As a result, about 40,000 cash agents have been operating in the country along with more than 1,800 BLUs before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the BSP.