Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero says it's about time to waive service fees on certain electronic fund transfers, as these are long overdue.

Escudero had this to say as he backed Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' (BSP) move to remove such charges for personal transactions and payments to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“I could only hope that the thresholds will be higher and the coverage wider, to benefit more consumers, and expand further the user base of digital payments,” Escudero said

While the transaction fee on each fund transfer is dismissed by some as negligible, Escudero said that “If you add them up, say a year’s worth, the amount could be substantial."

Citing regulator reports, Escudero noted that individual transactions billed by one firm could reach as high as P75, while others charge as much as P600.

“Parang alkyansiya ‘yan. Maaring barya-barya lang ang naihuhulog pero ‘di mo namamalayan na ang laki na pala ng ipon (It's like having a savings account. You might be depositing small amounts, but you don't realize that the total amount you've saved is already substantial),“ he said.

With the rapid growth in the utilization of digital payments and electronic fund transfers, “new and appropriate regulations must also pick up speed. These cannot be behind the curve,” Escudero said.

The share of digital payments to total retail payment transactions in the country ballooned to nearly 53 percent last year, beating the BSP’s expectations.

“Ang bilang ng monthly transactions ng mga bagay na pinamili ay mahigit-kumulang na 2.6 bilyon sa taong 2023. Ibig sabihin ay nasa 3.6 milyon na transactions ang nangyayari bawat oras. ‘Yan ang snapshot ng migration natin toward digital payments (The number of monthly transactions for items purchased is at 2.6 billion in 2023. This means that approximately 3.6 million transactions occur every hour. This is a snapshot of our shift towards digital payments),” he said.

Escudero said the logic behind the call to collect no fees on person-to-person digital money transfers for personal, family, or household purposes was “solid and unassailable.”

“Kung ang paggamit ng electronic money channels ay resonable sa dalas at halaga ng perang pinapadala, dapat zero na talaga ‘yan (Using electronic money channels is reasonable given the frequency and amount of money being sent, and it should be zero-rated from then on),“ he said.

“It is on the same vein that zero fees must be imposed on digital payments to small businesses,” he said.

“If we want to build our economy from the ground up, this is where these firms are, grassroots and community entrepreneurs, whose cost of doing business will be reduced with the move to zero fees on digital payments,” he added.

“Above all, this is the kind of incentive that will not cost the government a single centavo,” he further stated.