ECOMMERCE in Philippine Setting

1
E-COMMERCE in Philippine Setting
a presentation by Meldie A. Apag September 11,
2004
2
Topic Objectives

• Describe the current Philippine e-commerce
  scenario.
• Understand the E-Commerce Law.
• Describe the different e-commerce applications.
• View some sites.

3
Introduction
Is the Philippines ready to compete in the global
digital economy? Do we have the means and the
know-how to harness the opportunities given by
advancements in information and communication
technology (ICT)?
4
Introduction

• The four strategic areas which were
• keys to technological development
• ICT infrastructure and systems,
• the e-business environment,
• human resources/ IT education,
• and the legal and policy
• environment.

5
Main Topic
Current Philippine Scenario

• Few of the Filipinos have access
• to the Internet.

Some of Pampangas wooden furniture businesses
for example, cannot even avail of the Internet
because of the lack of telephone lines in the
area.
6
Current Philippine Setting

• E-Commerce Act of 2000

made the country one of the first to enact a
law governing e-commerce transactions

• Department of Information and
• Communications Technology

provides laws protecting e-commerce security and
addressing problems of classification of firms
in the telecommunications industry
7
Current Philippine Setting

• Although there are an increasing
• number of ICT graduates every year,
• jobs are not readily available for them
• locally.

• in the problem of high costs, there
• must be an awareness campaign
• geared toward small-and-medium
• enterprise to highlight the benefits of
• such investment.

8
Current Philippine Setting

• People with low tolerance for bad
• government will leave and are leaving
• the country especially as countries like
• Canada and Australia are laying the
• welcome mat to people with the right
• skills. This exodus is draining the
• country of its skilled and entrepreneurial
• population.

9
Philippine Internet Commerce Society or PICS was
founded in September 1997 with the goal of
making e-commerce a reality for Filipinos. It
played an Important role in lobbying for the
passage of the Y2K Law and E-Commerce Law of
the Philippines.
10
E-Commerce Act of 2000

• Republic Act 8792, or the Electronic Commerce
  Law was enacted last June 14, 2000. Efforts for
  its passage started as early as 1992 with the
  Electronic Evidence Act. The law defines
  Philippine policy on electronic transactions to
  enable the countrys players and consumers to
  actively participate in electronic trade.

11
E-Commerce Law
Provisions of the E-Commerce Law

• legal recognition of electronic documents,
  electronic data messages, and electronic
  signatures
• for retention and storage of documents in
  electronic form
• recognition and validity of electronic contracts
  
• guidelines for use of transport documents in
  carriage of goods

12
E-Commerce Law

• a 2-year mandate for government to have the
  capability to transact its business
  electronically
• the directive for the Department of Trade and
  Industry to function as the countrys e-commerce
  authority
• the penalties to crimes such as hacking,
  cracking, and piracy offenses

13
E-Commerce Law

• parties are given the right to choose the type
  and level of security methods that suit their
  needs
• mandates RPWeb, a strategy that intends to
  connect all government offices to the Internet
  and provide universal access to the general
  public, to be implemented
• made cable, broadcast, and wireless physical
  infrastructure within the activity of
  telecommunications

14
E-Commerce Law

• provided guidelines as to when a service provider
  can be liable
• made banking transactions done through ATM
  switching networks absolute once consummated
• all existing laws such as the Consumer Act of the
  Philippines also applies to e-commerce
  transactions.

15
Applications of E-Commerce
1. e-Filing These are government websites that
create, accept and retain electronic documents.

• E-Reklamo. This website by the Consumer
  Assistance and Information Network System of the
  Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer
  Protection extends is consumer help desk online.
  Filipinos can now submit complaints or concerns
  on any unfair business practices and abuse of
  consumer rights.

16
E-Commerce Applications

• SSSText and SSS Web Online Inquiry. A service
  that provide members with access to information
  and verify their contributions, loans and/or
  benefits application status.
• TIN Verification System. This enables authorized
  users, access to both the old and the updated
  taxpayer information. The main purpose of the
  system is to help users validate and obtain
  correct TIN for a taxpayer.

17
E-Commerce Applications

• Phil-JobNet. The Department of Labor and
  Employments website that allows companies to
  post job openings for free on government offices
  and overseas. Job hunters can also post and
  update their resumes online.
• B2BPriceNow.com of LandBank of the Philippines.
  This website allows farmers and cooperatives to
  post their products online and mobile phones.
  Buyers can visit this site to check out various
  agricultural products and services available in
  the country. It also provides a medium where
  prices can be verified on various commodities.

18
E-Commerce Applications

• GSIS Infotext and website. The service give
  members access to his own records at GSIS and
  take a look at or download his statement of
  accounts and all his transactions related to his
  membership status, insurance policy, loans
  (salary, policy, emergency, pension and housing)
  as well as claims and benefits (retirement, life
  insurance claims, survivorship, etc).

19
E-Commerce Applications

• Passport Direct of Department of Foreign Affairs.
  Allows people to renew their passports over the
  phone.
• University of the Philippines Open University.
  This site allows anyone, anywhere to sign up for
  courses at the university online.
• SEC-iRegister is a web-based system for filing
  and registering corporations and partnerships.
  The registration grants the entity juridical
  personality.

20
E-Commerce Applications
2. e-payments Accept payment and issue receipts
in electronic form.

• SSSNet. Social Security Systems electronic
  network allows companies to transact electronic
  monthly contribution lists, payment orders,
  credit/debit advice notices, and updatin of
  records using the Electronic Data Interchange
  (EDI) technology.

21
E-Commerce Applications

• SSS Auto Debit Arrangement. SSS voluntary,
  self-employed and house helpers employers can
  enroll in the Auto-Debit Arrangement (ADA)
  program with SSS accredited banks. This allow
  members to have their contributions be deducted
  from their bank account on a regular basis
  therefore removing the hassle of going to the
  branch and execute payment.

22
E-Commerce Applications

• Electronic Filing and Payment System (EFPS) by
  the Bureau of Internal Revenue. An integrated
  environment consisting of Electronic Filers
  (Taxpayers), Financial Institutions (Accredited
  Agent Banks or AABs), and BIR core applications
  to facilitate the Electronic submission of Tax
  Returns and payments.

23
E-Commerce Applications

• E-Census. The National Statistics Office website
  and call center allowing Filipinos to request for
  birth, marriage, no-marriage, and death
  certificate electronically. Payment can be made
  through Metrobank or through the PayPlus online
  ATM payment gateway.

24
E-Commerce Applications
3. e-business the DigitalFilipino StatsReport,
it shows that the top products that Filipinos
buy online are books, computer software, domain
name, web hosting, and travel services.

• Business-to-business (B2B) trading in the
  Philippines is as vibrant as ever as supermarkets
  like SuperValue, Makro are expanding their hub
  membership. Several B2B service providers such as
  BayanTrade, B2BPriceNow.com, Our-Bid, Medilink,
  among others are growing.

25
E-Commerce Applications

• Payment gateway providers hardly exist in the
  past. But the number has increased through the
  years with players such as Authoriz.net, My1Time,
  BPI Payment Gateway, Yehey PayPlus,
  Equitable-PCIBank, UnionBank, Netbanks.net, among
  others ready to serve local merchants wanting to
  accept ATM, credit card, and debit card payments
  online.

26
E-Commerce Applications

• Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is
  gradually stabling as well. Innovative merchants
  had come up with products and services serving
  Filipinos from all over the world. Some of the
  notable sites are Rustans, MyAyala, Turoturo,
  e-2-door, PinoyDelikasi, 22Ban, among others.

27
E-Commerce Applications

• E-Banking is also getting popular in the
  Philippines as the number of users increases.
  Some of the popular local banks are BPI,
  Unionbank, Citibank, Equitable-PCI, HSBC, UCPB,
  among others.
• E-Travel is gradually becoming a reality for
  Filipinos too. One can now buy tickets online at
  Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and through
  travel sites such as Viaje.ph and Lakbay.

28
E-Commerce Applications

• E-Learning. Filipinos now has the capability to
  earn a degree or certificate courses online as
  several universities, technical and online
  schools offer such facility. This includes The
  Online Campus, 2StudyIT.com, PurpleTrain.com,
  among others.

29
E-Commerce Applications
4. e-services From the year 1999, the government
barked on an extensive campaign in positioning
the country as the E-Services Hub of Asia. Areas
of focus are into animation, software
development, contact centers, medical
transcription, shared services/back-office.
Apart from conducting trade missions and join
trade shows in U.S., Europe, Japan, and ASEAN,
the government has organized an annual tradeshow,
E-Services Philippines, dedicated in promoting
the sector.
30
E-Commerce Applications
2. Human Capacity Building

• Virtual Center for Technology Innovation -
  Information Technology. This is a flagship
  project of the Department of Science and
  Technology that offers training and certification
  of local IT professionals in leading IT
  courseware, using internationally recognized
  industry accredited standards.

31
E-Commerce Applications

• PCs for High School Project. This Department of
  Trade and Industry project intends to equip 1000
  public high schools nationwide with computers,
  printers, and modem that the teachers and
  students can use.
• APEC E-Commerce Skills Standards Project.
  Philippine Internet Commerce Society and VCTI-IT
  actively participate in the development of this
  standard as it recognizes the need to develop
  higher-end skills in e-commerce.

32
E-Commerce Applications

• Philippine Schools Cyberfair Project. On its 2nd
  year, this PICS project intends to recognize
  elementary and high school institutions that
  produces a website that tells a story about
  people or programs in their local community. In
  the long run, we want to see Internet access and
  its acceptance in elementary and high school
  institutions to increase in due time.