The Supreme Court launched on Friday, July 23, the Judiciary ePayment for Small Claims, the online payment of legal fees for small claims cases.
The option of cashless payment for litigants in small claims cases will be pilot-tested in close to a thousand first-level courts nationwide.
The launch was made immediately following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the SC and Easypay Global EMI Corp. (EGEC), the owner of Fortune Pay mobile wallet app.
All Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts in Cities, Municipal Trial Courts, and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts can now accept payments for small claims through the Fortune Pay mobile app.
The ePayment services of Fortune Pay is the newest addition to the growing roster of collection channels that will be later on integrated with the Judiciary ePayment Solution currently under development by the SC.
Last March 15, the SC signed a MOA with UnionBank to develop an ePayment solution for the judiciary.
The Judiciary ePayment Solution, which is open to all banks and their account holders, is an application designed to provide the SC and all the courts in the country the option to receive fees and payments digitally from litigants, their counsels, and representatives.
It involves an automated tool that will allow authorized judiciary personnel to process and manage payment related activities. It is aimed at streamlining the processes of assessment and payment of court fees, and providing the SC with efficient accounting and auditing mechanisms.
