THE Cebu City Government has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with C-Pass Inc., a Filipino-Korean enterprise founded in Cebu, to establish a digital public payment system for fees, taxes, assessments, and other obligations due to the City.
The signing ceremony, attended by Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia and C-Pass chief executive officer Jaeyoung Kim, marks the City’s first official step toward implementing cashless governance.
In a press conference on Monday, April 7, 2025, Garcia described the move as “very novel” and an “innovative way” to handle the City Government’s financial system.
“We are looking at all of these possibilities in the future so that we will have a more advanced way of transacting here in the city using technology,” Garcia told reporters.
Research
The MOA builds upon a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2021, following three years of joint research, systems evaluations, and policy coordination.
The partnership aims to digitize key local tax payments, such as real property and business taxes using the C-Pass Inc. platform with the goal of providing a more efficient and accessible payment system for citizens.
C-Pass Inc., through its subsidiaries engaged in the food and construction sectors, has been active in Cebu since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Agreements
The MOA outlines the company’s scope of services, which include enabling the Cebu City Government to accept payments through an Application Programming Interface.
C-Pass will provide a facility for the payment system that would enable the local government unit to receive, real time, the payment from consumers.
Under the MOA, the Cebu City Government is tasked to develop its own platform, such as a website or mobile application, where C-Pass will be available as a payment option.
The agreement stipulates that each party will bear the cost for their own platform, which should be compatible with the other party’s system.
Convenience fee
Financial transactions will involve a convenience fee, which will be charged to the financial consumers in addition to the amount due to the City Government.
C-Pass will collect the convenience fee before remitting the net settlement amount to the City.
The agreement also includes provisions for settlement of disputes, fraudulent activities, customer support, and the obligations of both parties.
The initial term of the agreement is one year. It will automatically renew for a successive one-year term unless amended by mutual consent. / JPS