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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
CORINTHIAN GARDENS, Quezon City (SDN) — The Philippines’ digital bandwagon has been moving fast like a well-oiled machine, with the public and private sectors robustly leveraging technologies.
But there’s a big catch: Of the more than 119 million Filipinos, more than 90 percent are unbanked, more than 70 percent have no credit card.
While “inclusion” is a buzzword, it appears the term has remained just a word, the benefits of financial inclusion not, at least for now, a wide experience for the majority of the citizens.
It’s like a chicken-and-egg question, a vicious circle. In order for poor Filipinos to gain from the digital revolution, they have to be banked, possessing credit cards. But before they can be in, they need resources, money mostly. They need papers, documents. Nada!
That’s what Chavit Singson, former governor of Ilocos Sur, a former mayor as well, now a widely successful businessman with many investments in his pocket, including at least in South Korea, intends to do if he gets into the Senate.
He already filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC), under the Ako Ilokano Ako Party-list. He is widely endorsed by the country’s transport sector, more particularly the Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators ng Pilipinas (LTOP), headed by Orlando “Ka Lando” Marquez, president.
Meanwhile, The Fintech Times has cited the country’s improving financial inclusion, which it says “dramatically” rose to 56 percent in 2024, an increase from 2021’s 23 percent.
“However, even with conservative estimates, by the end of this year, at least 30 percent of Filipinos will still be excluded,” The Financial Times points out.
Singson, a native-born child of Vigan municipality, had a meeting at his home in Corinthian Gardens, Quezon City, on Thursday, October 10, called by LTOP’s Marquez, with the presence of select number of reporters, including from SDN – SciTech & Digital News.
The country’s top transport leaders, mayors, among others, attended the meeting, showing their strong support for the former governor.
Singson noted that the world has transformed into a cashless haven which, obviously, prompted him to propose the use of a common local debit/ATM card nationwide, which functions both as a credit and debit card.
He cited his home province of Ilocos Sur where he pioneered the same debit/ATM card in Narvacan municipality, helping his town mates ride the digital bandwagon and participate in cashless transactions.
Singson said using the card perks up the economy and make it easier for the citizens to adapt to the environment occasioned by the use of technologies.
Now is the time, he emphasized, to use the ATM-like debit card he pioneered for all local government units (LGUs) across the country. He cited himself as example, saying he is using it conveniently for all his business transactions.
“We will give cards to our countrymen through the mayors so that our economy will move forward. We will give them card,” he says.
Singson said that Filipinos with no bank account keep their money in pillows. “If it gets lost, quarrel will break out.”
It can be recalled he was at one time a president of both the Governors’ League of the Philippines and the Mayors’ League of the Philippines, which are under the umbrella of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), where he, perhaps, still has a reservoir of goodwill that may serve him well during the midterm elections.
At the meeting on Thursday, Singson pointed out that he did not plan to rejoin politics, being contented as a private citizen. But he said he can’t turn down or take for granted the calls and push for him to join the senatorial race, as exemplified by the transport sector.
Meantime, the LTOP and other public transport groups, including the Crimes and Corruption Watch International (CCWI), expressed “100 percent” support for the senatorial bid of Singson in the May 12, 2025, national and local elections.
The meeting participants assured Singson of their full support, and do their best to deliver votes for him to become the No. 1 in the senatorial bets’ winning “Magic 12” ranking. (✓)