Naturally, news of the additional charge, set at P15, was not received gladly by Meralco customers. Meralco's announcement follows a major increase in banking fees implemented by Philippine banks in April for automatic teller machine (ATM) transactions, which increased fees by 50 percent or more for most customers. Although they did not affect as many people, the change in ATM fees earlier had the same effect of discouraging noncontact transactions. However, the BSP imposed extremely loose limits on the fees that could be charged, and these were consequently sharply increased. Anything that tends to discourage that, especially fees that, even though small, are still felt by pockets that have been strained by more than a year of restrictions, should be held in abeyance until all quarantine restrictions are finally lifted.

Source: Manila Times June 01, 2021 16:30 UTC