Iloilo city: GCash and the Ateneo de Iloilo - Santa Maria Catholic School here launched on Thursday a partnership on digital payment with the signing of a memorandum of agreement. Ateneo de Iloilo is the third Ateneo campus, next to Naga and Davao, to adopt the innovation.

According to Philippines News Agency, signing the agreement for GCash were G-Xchange, Inc. chief operating officer Barbara Dawn Dapul, vice president and B2B general manager Paul Vincent Albano, and Visayas business lead for MSME and enterprise Miguel Polido. For Ateneo de Iloilo, the signatories were school president Fr. Arnel Ong, school chaplain Fr. Braulio Dahunan, and treasurer Mark Anthony Yap.

'Parents can now pay for the tuition and other school fees of their children enrolled in this school digitally through the convenience of their G-Cash app. They will save a lot of time, drive a lot of efficiencies,' Albano said in his message. He said they can help learners budget their finances and save at an early age through the GCash Junior Accounts and enable the disbursement of salaries and allowances of school staff through the convenience of the application.

'These are some ideas that we can take this partnership beyond just bill payment. We will go and follow through on these ideas so that we are able to go and truly transform the Ateneo de Iloilo community into a truly cashless campus,' he added. Meanwhile, Ong said they need to explore many things other than just bill payment.

'With GCash now available as a payment option for tuition and other school fees, our parents, guardians, and students will benefit from a more efficient, secure, and user-friendly payment system,' he said.