Dylan applies for his PWD Paymaya Card

 04 November 2019

Last September, City of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno partnered with PayMaya to enable PWD's, Senior Citizens and Solo Parents to receive their monthly financial benefits from the City thru the Paymaya app.  

To avail of such benefits, we went to a special registration event and here's what transpired.\

During the last week of October, I heard a commotion in our compound and it turned out that our local barangay officials came to inform Senior Citizens in our area to proceed to a registration venue for them to apply for their Paymaya card.  With a Paymaya card, their monthly financial stipend from the local government will be directly deposited to it for convenience.  

Now when I heard of it, I didn't immediately connect it with benefits for PWD's or Persons with Disabilities.  But later on, I asked the barangay if PWDs will also need to register (Dylan is a PWD) and they said "Yes".  Toinks!  They didn't mention it when they went house-to-house.  

Anyway, one day after Dylan's school, we went to the venue where my Titas and Titos registered.  Unfortunately, the schedule for our barangay was over and that our only option was to return during the Late Registration schedule.  The staff, however, gave us a list of requirements to prepare to submit once we return.  Here it is:

• Valid ID of the PWD (original and photocopy)
• Voter's ID or Voter's Registration (original and photocopy)
• Barangay Residency certificate
• Another Valid ID
• 1 cellphone SIM Card
• Birth Certificate of the PWD (original and photocopy) and representative if the PWD is not a voter

On November 5, after school, Dylan and I returned to the venue and this is what happened.

We came around early lunchtime to find this many applicants in line.  Apparently, some of them have been there since 8AM.  I knew we were going to take hours.

But first, we had to submit our papers.  The desk on the far right of this picture is where we submitted the documents.  The staff gave us a piece of paper with our number (#149) and particulars to be encoded by the staff of Paymaya.  We then waited for our turn at the encoding table.  It took around 2 and a half hours for us to reach the encoding table.

At the encoding table, we presented the piece of paper including Dylan's PWD ID.  They then proceeded to input his details into their system using their mobile phones.  That's the reason it took a long time because they have to manually input all these details for every applicant.

As soon as they were done, they asked us to review what they encoded to make sure that all details were correct.  And then that was that!  We were told that they would forward the cards to the barangays as soon as they became available.

Now, all we have to do is wait... It may take a while but at least, we were able to make it to the deadline.