Project Ugnayan Beneficiaries Reach Over 7.6 Million People in Greater Metro Manila Poor Communities

Project Ugnayan, the fund-raising initiative led by top business groups in cooperation with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), reached over 7.6 million people in the vulnerable communities of Greater Metro Manila.

“As we close, we wish to reiterate our wholehearted thanks to all our generous Donors for making this project possible. By coming together in a Bayanihan spirit so quickly, we were able to create a program of this scale and importance. This unprecedented assembly of so many of the country’s corporations and business families coming to the assistance of the most vulnerable in our society illustrates and speaks of the heart and generosity of the business community.

Our special thanks go to the 10 Bishops of the Dioceses in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna, as well as to Caritas Manila under the leadership of Father Anton Pascual, and the network of Parish Priests, Volunteers, and Barangay Captains who distributed the gift certificates door-todoor in the lowest-income communities of Greater Metro Manila. We appreciate the swiftness and efficiency of their work under very difficult conditions and over very long hours each day,” said Project Ugnayan Lead, Fernando Zobel de Ayala.

"We are grateful for this opportunity to be part of this business community effort to help people in a time of crisis. This is a movement we should nurture as we prepare to let people return to work and to re-start our economy in the post-quarantine period.” said PDRF Co-Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

“The unity in diversity demonstrated by Project Ugnayan reveals the private sector’s serious commitment to help our country recover from the lost economic momentum because of the pandemic. We are proud to be part of this extraordinary collaboration of industries which will prove most valuable in getting the economy back on track,” PDRF Co-Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

According to Father Anton CT Pascual, Executive Director of Caritas Manila, the initiative earned praises from Archdiocese of Manila Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo, San Pablo Bishop Buenaventura Famadico and other Prelates of the Suffragan Dioceses of Manila. The Prelates thanked the businessmen and private organization who collectively help to make Project Ugnayan possible.

“The true spirit of Easter is about hope and has special significance in these difficult times. We thank all the generous benefactors of Project Ugnayan for this opportunity to fulfill a great mission of compassion for our vulnerable brothers and sisters. Your gifts have warmed their hearts and uplifted their spirits,” Father Pascual said.

Caritas Manila’s Project Damayan, the project’s main distributor of emergency cash through P1,000
supermarket gift certificates has so far reached 1,070,854 families or 5,354,270 people. It is on
target to deliver gift certificates to 1,366,495 families or 6,832,475 people by Wednesday, April 15
(the original end-date of the Enhanced Community Quarantine).

ABS-CBN’s Pantawid ng Pagibig has reached 238,854 families or 1,194,270 people through food
packs delivered through Local Government Units. They will reach a total of 631,921 families or
3,151,605 people by the end of their program.

ADB and the Government’s Bayan, Bayanihan has delivered food packages to 13,370 families or 66,850 people through the Philippine Army and DSWD. ADB has provided funding to reach 80,000 families or a total of 400,000 people.

Jollibee’s FoodAID program delivers ready-to-cook chicken to low-income families from its commissary through a network composed of Don Bosco, Caritas Manila, and the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid (SNPP). So far, they have delivered to 199,491 families or 977,455 people. They are targeting to reach 500,000 families or 2,500,000 people by end-April.

“In sum, Project Ugnayan and its Partners have reached 1,522,569 families or 7,612,845 people in just over three weeks. This number will rise as all deliveries have already been programmed by the partners,” said Fernando Zobel de Ayala.

The donors of Project Ugnayan are (in alphabetical order): Aboitiz Group, ABSCBN/First Gen, Alaska Milk Corporation, Alliance Global Group & Megaworld, AY Foundation & RCBC, Ayala Corporation. Bench/Suyen Corp, Bonifacio West Devt Corp. Carmelray Group, Cathay Land, Inc, Cebuana Lhullier, Century Pacific, Coca Cola Philippines, Concepcion Industrial, Consuelo "Chito" Madrigal Foundation, Inc., Daiichi Properties, DMCI Group of Companies, Dowell Container and Packaging Corporation, Far Eastern University, First Life Financial Company, Focus Global, Inc., Global Food Group, Glorious Commercial Exports, Inc., Gokongwei Group of Companies/Robinsons Retail Holdings, ICTSI, JAKA Group 1, Jollibee, J.P. Morgan, Kawit Prime Holdings, Inc., Leonio Group, Mercury Drug Corporation, Metrobank, Mumuso Group, National Grid Corp of the Philippines, New World Hotel, Nutri-Asia, Oishi/Liwayway Marketing Group, One Meralco Foundation, Penshoppe, People R People, PepsiCo/PepsiCo Foundation, Philippine Racing Club, Inc, PLDT/Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Puregold, Ramon S. Ang & Family, RRK/Lee Jeans, Shang Properties Inc, SM/BDO, Sta. Elena Construction, Sugar Junction Inc.. Sunlife of Canada, Super Prime Holdings, Inc, Supreme Steel Pipe Corp, The Alpha Suites Inc., Unilab, and Wilcon Depot.

RCBC, Multisys to Bring an All-In-One Virtual Banking App

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has partnered with software and IT solutions provider, Multisys Technologies Corporation, to power the country’s first financial inclusion accelerator virtual bank, DiskarTech. PLDT invested P2.15 billion in Multisys for a 45.73% interest last year.

Through DiskarTech: Kasosyo sa Asenso, RCBC will soon bring banking services and products closer to unbanked Filipinos and grassroots communities. This is in line with the commercial bank’s efforts to further promote financial inclusion in the country.

With Multisys, DiskarTech will become an all-in-one app where users can easily make payments to more than 20 government services and over 2,000 billers, transfer funds via InstaPay, and avail of social services. It will also enable banking consumers to take out loans, buy airtime load and gaming ePINS, as well as apply for insurance and cash in and cash out via respective agent partners.

“We are confident that with our collaboration with Multisys, we would be able to bring inclusive digital banking services to more Filipinos and uplift their lives,” said Lito Villanueva, RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer.

“This is a strategic engagement as it covers the most extensive features and services that RCBC developed and championed, truly the first and the best in the industry,” said David Almirol, Jr. Multisys President and CEO.

RCBC has been building a robust digital ecosystem with over 30 partnerships and collaboration across government agencies and private organizations to push DiskarTech in local communities.

RCBC EVP and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva (right) and Multisys President and CEO David Almirol, Jr., seal a partnership that will make the DiskarTech: Kasosyo sa Asenso into an all-in-one app to bring banking products and services closer to unbanked Filipinos. Looking on are PLDT Chairman and CEO Manny Pangilinan, RCBC Chairperson Helen Yuchengco-Dee and RCBC President and CEO Eugene Acevedo.

DTI, RCBC TO BRING DIGITAL LIVELIHOOD AND BANKING TO SARI-SARI STORES

MAKATI – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and universal bank RCBC will bring digital livelihood and virtual banking services to more than 1.3 million sari-sari stores nationwide through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on 18 October 2019.

Under the MOU, DTI will promote RCBC’s virtual bank-tech app DiskarTech: Kasosyo sa Asenso and provide training programs for entrepreneurs. Said trainings will roll out before the end of this year in more than 1,000 DTI Negosyo Centers around the country.

DiskarTech offers digital financial services such as micro-insurance, microfinancing, bills payment, and airtime and gaming e-load. The app also enables customers to open RCBC basic deposit accounts, withdraw, deposit, and transfer money without going to a bank branch.

DTI and RCBC target enterprising Filipinos as users of the app, including sari-sari store and market vendors in over 42,000 barangays in the country.

"DiskarTech is a pioneering initiative that will level up our sari-sari stores and microenterprises with a complete suite of digital financial services that is well-aligned with the 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda of the Duterte Administration," DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

"Aside from providing additional income, DiskarTech helps achieve financial inclusion by getting more Filipinos to open bank accounts and be part of the formal financial system," Sec. Lopez said.

He also noted that financial inclusion is key to achieving President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision of inclusive growth and a comfortable life for all.

"This will also address informal lenders offering exorbitant interest rates as DiskarTech provides opportunity for new-to-credit Filipinos to access efficient and affordable credit facility through self-help approach," RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva said.

Earlier, the Liga ng mga Barangay National Executive Board approved a resolution adopting DiskarTech as a national financial inclusion accelerator in all 42,000 barangays nationwide.

Signing the agreement were DTI Director Emma Asusano, DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, RCBC Chairperson Helen Y. Dee, RCBC President and CEO Eugene S. Acevedo, and RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva.

RCBC, Liga ng mga Barangay work Towards Financial Inclusion

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has taken the first steps to bringing its digital financial inclusion initiative to grassroots communities as it gets the support and commitment of Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (LNB).

The LNB led by National President Eden Pineda, presented its national executive board resolution stating that the organization is adopting DiskarTech: Kasosyo sa Asenso as a growth enabler and capacity-building measure for microenterprises in every barangay and its constituents. DiskarTech is a financial inclusion accelerator platform by RCBC that aims to stimulate economic activity to help uplift the unbanked and underserved Filipinos.   

The strategic collaboration will focus on accelerating financial literacy, promoting inclusive digital economy, and empowering local communities. This supports the government digitalization efforts aligned with President Duterte’s 10-point economic agenda on investing on human capital development, and promoting technology and innovation for self-sustaining and inclusive development towards poverty alleviation.

LNB is the official organization of over 42,000 barangays throughout the country. It is committed to providing avenues and assistance to promote welfare and ensure success of the national government’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion and National Retail Payments System.

“This financial inclusion accelerator will be pervasive throughout the country as it would address the huge gaps in financial services while reducing the number of unbanked and underserved communities,” said RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva.

By adopting DiskarTech, LNB will be taking an active role in leading workshops and programs on financial education and literacy with the assistance of the DiskarTech National Coordinating Team. They will also be engaging its member municipalities to appoint their own DiskarTech Community Leader (DCL) who will facilitate participation of residents and entrepreneurs in the program.

“DiskarTech will pave the way for the real transformation of our communities nationwide as it would provide opportunities to our constituents, giving them the chance to be part of the formal financial system through technology,” said Liga ng mga Barangay National President Eden Pineda.

In an effort to encourage economic activity, partner sari-sari stores or microenterprises will also be identified as Barangay Digital Community Centers (BDCCs) to serve as the go-to hub of every resident for their financial needs - whether it’s paying bills, depositing savings to their accounts, buying  micro insurance or sending money to their loved ones.

With this, RCBC hopes to turbocharge the growth of digital financial transactions in the country from the current one percent to a minimum of twenty percent by next year. Through DiskarTech, this initiaitve hopes to bring to realization the vision of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas of creating a cash-lite and digital economy for greater efficiency, security, interoperability, and affordability.

Joining LNB and 20 other existing partners, a number of private organizations have also signed up recently to join the DiskarTech financial inclusion ecosystem to benefit their respective constituents. These partners include Ka-Entrep Micro and Small Entrepreneurs Organization of the Philippines, Bangko Pangasinan, and Rizal Microbank, among others.

Rural bank Bangko Pangasinan and thrift bank Rizal Microbank also share how DiskarTech would empower the agriculture sector with access to basic financial needs and microfinance loans.

“DiskarTech is an open platform and the way it works is that banks like us can communicate with other banks. Similar to an open banking system, there will be no barriers and it will become interoperable to make it easier to reach and assist the underserved market,” said Gregory De Guzman, Bangko Pangasinan president and COO.

Joseph Lumain, Strategic Partnerships and Special Initiatives head at Rizal Microbank, agrees that DiskarTech will be an effective way to reach numerous individuals at the same time. “Basically, what DiskarTech is offering are the basic services of a bank through digital means. And in an era where almost everyone is tech-savvy, DiskarTech can be the perfect solution to present financial services in an understandable way, and eventually helping answer the issue of financial inclusion.”

RCBC Leads the Way to Open Banking in the Country

Imagine being able to secure loans with some of the lowest interest rates in the banking industry. Or conveniently transferring funds from one bank account to another, or perhaps, experiencing the best possible customer banking service around.

To get all these and other “perks”, most financial institutions would require one to become their preferred client. But in today’s digital technology and in the global banking industry, getting access to all these benefits is simply a matter of banking customers securely sharing their data with other financial institutions. This is the beauty of open banking.

Open banking enables financial services customers such as companies, entrepreneurs and ordinary depositors and borrowers, to have access to various products and services from competing banks and other financial institutions by allowing the latter to digitally and securely access their financial information. Customers can compare product offerings and avail of the best ones that suit their needs and fit their capabilities, thereby helping them earn more from bigger savings interest rates, avail of loans more easily, and pay more conveniently, towards managing and improving their finances.

With the concept of open banking, financial institutions such as banks—big and small—fintech companies, and other players, can share their respective clients’ data through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs). These APIs enable customers or the data subjects to share only data pertinent to the product or service they are looking to avail and not the account credentials.

The European Union (EU) initiated PSD2 (Revised Payment Service Directive) as an emerging Open Banking standard. This is a game-changer in the industry as banks’ monopoly on their customer account details will soon disappear. This required European banks to provide Open APIs which does not need additional customized developments. It reduces barriers to innovation and limits the big banks’ “walled gardens.” In fact, even the Philippines’ data privacy law was influenced by EU’s stringent data protection regulation, including the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Open banking can enable banks and other financial institutions to have access to data that will enable them to process loan applications quicker or better advise their clients on their finances. This encourages banks to be more competitive, leading to more affordable products, faster services, better customer relations, and investing in digital technologies, to the benefit of customers.

This is what Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) hopes to spearhead in the industry as it recently became the first local bank to advocate and implement open banking, affirming its position as a digital trailblazer in the financial industry.

But more than encouraging competition among banks, RCBC aims to lead the way to open banking in the country to become the Filipinos’ prime financial inclusion partner.

“With open banking, we can power the transactions of rural banks, cooperatives, micro-financial institutions and other small players, giving their customers access to a wide array of financial services using RCBC Open APIs,” said Lito Villanueva, RCBC Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer.

Already, RCBC has beefed up its open banking capabilities by establishing API partnerships with leading fintech companies; local payment networks PESONet and Instapay; and IBM Blockchain World Wire remittance.

Through open banking, RCBC aims to serve the global financial services needs of more than 30 million customers of fintechs, rural banks, cooperatives, and micro-financial institutions all over the country.

Leading the Charge in Financial Inclusion

Yuchengco Group of Companies Chairperson Helen Yuchengco Dee (first row, fifth from left) and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva (second row, fourth from left) recently led a signing of a memorandum of understanding to launch DiskarTech, the country’s first-ever financial inclusion accelerator program to harness the Filipinos’ entrepreneurial spirit. Photo also shows officials from program partners PLDT Enterprise, Smart WiFi, Malayan Insurance, Liga ng Mga Barangay, League of Municipalities, Local Climate Change Adaptation Development, Philippine Association of Stores and Carinderia Owners, and Ka-Entrep Micro and Small Entrepreneurs Organization of the Philippines.

Deposit and Drive with RCBC

Believe you can turn your savings into your dream car with RCBC and RCBC Savings Bank’s (RSB) new Deposit and Drive promo.

Six units each of brand new Isuzu mu-X SUVs and Honda Civic Sedans are up for grabs. The more you save with RCBC and RSB, the more chances you get of winning in the raffle draw. Turn your saving woes into the ultimate grand prize!

Simply earn a raffle entry by depositing “fresh funds” into your new or existing account, and maintaining the minimum average daily balance of at least Php 50,000 for your personal account and Php 500,000 for your corporate account. The final number of raffle entries per account will depend on the cut-off period.

Fresh Deposit Funds are limited to: (a) funds deposited to open an account during the Promo Period; or (b) additional deposits made to existing accounts during the Promo Period.

Also, by just dropping by your branch of account and updating your account information, an additional raffle entry is given to you.

With RCBC and RSB, each deposit gives you a chance to earn a spot for you to drive away with your dream wheels!

Deposit and Drive is open to all new and existing account holders, from individual, joint and corporate accounts. Mark your calendars for the first draw on February 14, 2019 and April 15, 2019 for the final raffle draw date.

Start believing you can drive home with a brand new car. Saving has never been this exciting with RCBC and RCBC Savings Bank’s Deposit and Drive promo.