Digital payments have made their way to public markets in the country, with Farmers Market becoming the first cashless palengke in the country.
Araneta City has announced a partnership with mobile wallet GCash to implement cashless transactions in Farmers Market in Quezon City.
Under the partnership, Araneta said market vendors can accept payments through the Scan to Pay (STP) feature via its QR technology.
GCash said the contactless payment scheme in Farmers Market is its first one and once fully implemented, customers with the mobile wallet app need only to scan the unique QR code of a particular Farmers Market stall to pay for the goods purchased.
"As an essential establishment, Farmers Market has remained open to the public regardless of the quarantine classification imposed by the government," said John Castelo, Araneta City’s senior vice president for business development.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has been encouraging Filipinos to shift to digital payments to minimize physical contact due to the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move has prompted the drop in coin use, with coin demand dropping 60% by value and 57% by volume since 2019.
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