bury me in this dress

I just read Tonyo Cruz’s blog entry about Paypal’s discrimination against the Philippines and other countries in our region. Tonyo Cruz is the man behind TXTPower.org and he unselfishly used his paypal account so people outside the country may donate to aid the victims of Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). Paypal Pte Ltd of Singapore handles Paypal Philippines and neighboring countries’. Paypal froze his account as well as the one Mike Villar set up for PhilippineAid.com. They did so despite knowing full well that the accounts were for donations and despite Cruz and Villar’s submitted proofs. Let me highlight some of the contents of his post.

… Paypal denied the appeal. Moreover, instead of saying that the explanation and documents I submitted were insufficient, Paypal changed its tune and used an insurmountable and grossly unfair justification.

In an email (Oct. 1) , Paypal’s Compliance Department said:

Due to legal and regulatory constraints, PayPal Private Limited is no longer able to process payments for Charities, Political Party/Organization Donations, Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), Religious Institutions, etc in those countries under its jurisdiction.

Upon receipt, I emailed another appeal. Paypal’s reply:

[...] sorry that at this time, as you are unable to complete the appeals process for your PayPal account(s), then access to the account(s) will remain limited. In accordance with our User Agreement, the funds in your PayPal account balance will be held for 180 days from the date the limitation was originally placed on your account. The balance is held to cover any disputes that may be filed against the account. And your balance can be handled in one of two ways:

1. Your remaining account balance can be used to provide refunds to your buyers (if applicable).

OR

2. Your remaining account balance will be held in your PayPal account for 180 days from the date your account was limited. After 180 days, you will be notified via email with information on how to receive your remaining funds.

Paypal was, by this time, acting like a typhoon worse than Pepeng. First, they asked for documents (we gave them all they need). Then, they said it was impossible for them to service Charities and Non-Profits. This time around, they insist that we have not passed the evaluation process — and asked that we refund donors or wait for six months before we get the money. Elsewhere in the Philippines and across the region, more and more people cry for relief aid and here we are being harassed by Paypal.

I emailed another appeal and asked if it was possible for us to just make a donation to the Red Cross’ official Paypal account which they set up two days before. I told them the can shut down my account permanently as long as we get the money immediately to the Red Cross.

The reply from Paypal? Another rejection. In an email (Oct. 2), Paypal said that:

Per PayPal policy, you could only choose to refund to the buyer of each payment.

I can’t believe Paypal will deny donations for much needed aid. People were dying and are still dying in our country.

On Oct. 6 (imagine the time wasted by Paypal’s obnoxious behavior), Paypal emailed to explain that “your desire to take donations through PayPal for your worthy charitable cause is one case that causes issues for PayPal because PayPal Pte Ltd, the Singaporean company you contracted with for your PayPal account, is unable to process donation transactions”.

Paypal said that:

Our regulatory approval in Singapore only permits PayPal Pte Ltd. to process payments for goods and services. Under Singapore law, which governs your relationship with PayPal, PayPal Pte is restricted to [be] used for processing donations. This policy and approach applies to all customers in all countries which contract online with PayPal Pte Ltd. It is not specific to you, your organization, or your country.

As a consolation, Paypal said that “in light of the dire situation with the typhoon victims in the Philippines, our Legal and Compliance Department has reviewed your appeal and agreed to provide a one time exception to lift your account restriction if you are able to provide us with a written assurance that the collected funds you have accumulated in your PayPal account will go to the Philippine National Red Cross for the stated purpose”.

In other words, Paypal Pte Ltd agreed to release the donations but Cruz and Villar can’t use their service again to ask for more donations. As of last night, 150 people have died because of Typhoon Pepeng but since we can’t use Paypal to ask for donations, we have to look for other ways to accept online donations. They even rejected Citezens Disaster Response Center’s application for a donation account. I’m guessing that they will not accept donation accounts for the victims in Indonesia, Samoa, Vietnam, Cambodia, and India. Perhaps Paypal Pte Ltd is not to blame but the Singaporean government BUT there should be exceptions to their rule. Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, the earthquakes in Indonesia, the tsunamis, etc. are critical situations and since third world countries like the Philippines lack the funds to aid the victims and rehabilitate devastated areas, we direly need all the donations we can get. There are so many who are willing to donate but Paypal is hindering all of this.