How PC Canlas Builders Turns 150-Day Receivables Into Payroll Cash

Maria Clarizze Canlas-Celso runs a 400-employee fabrication company in Marikina. Her clients include P&G and L'Oréal. Her problem: getting paid.

The shelves at every Filipino supermarket are lined with brands you know. P&G. Lysol. Dove. Shell. Pantene.

What you don't see is the small business that made the displays holding those products up.

PC Canlas Builders Corp. designs and fabricates point-of-sale materials for some of the biggest consumer brands in the country. The company started with Clarizze's father doing small house repairs. Then a retail advertising subcontractor tapped them for fabrication work. Then one day, a P&G employee spotted the company name on a worker's uniform and called them in.

That was decades ago. Today, PC Canlas runs a 400-employee operation in Marikina, split between fabrication for retail displays and construction services. Clarizze, who goes by Clang, is now at the helm alongside her father.

But running a 400-person company in the Philippines means one constant problem: the gap between when you deliver and when you get paid.

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The 150-Day Problem

"We deliver for them on schedule, in a rush," Clang explains. "But the payment terms are very long."

The standard 30 60 90 day payment terms Philippines businesses face in her industry run 150 days. That's five months between shipping a finished display and seeing cash. Meanwhile:

• Payroll goes out weekly. That's cash.
• Materials are often cash-on-delivery. That's cash.
• Some suppliers offer 60-day terms. Most don't.

The math is brutal. A company can show millions in receivables and still not make payroll.

"It looks good on paper," Clang says. "But these are just pending receivables. It's not yet cash."

She had a bank credit line. It covered maybe 30% of what the business needed to grow. And when she tried to expand it? One credit line took a full year to approve.

"We really need assistance from other things," she says.

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Why Banks Miss Businesses Like PC Canlas

PC Canlas is exactly the kind of company banks say they want to lend to. Established. Family-run. Twenty years in operation. Blue-chip clients. Hundreds of employees.

But banks see the 150-day payment terms and the lumpy cash flow and the reliance on a handful of large buyers. They see risk. They don't see that P&G doesn't default. They don't see that the receivables are real.

"The problem with our industry is that even though we have a lot of receivables, the sales look good on paper, but these are just pending receivables," Clang says. "It's not yet cash."

So the business gets stuck. It can't take on more projects because it doesn't have working capital. It can't build working capital because it can't get financing. The bank moves at the speed of bureaucracy. A year to approve a credit line that covers a third of what you need.

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What Changed With Invoice Financing for SMEs Philippines

A friend of Clang's father had used Jia. He introduced them.

Jia offered invoice financing for SMEs Philippines businesses like PC Canlas can actually access. For a company with millions in pending receivables from creditworthy clients, that was exactly the gap.

"With Jia, we can use the pending receivables to turn into cash," Clang says. "And we can do that in one to two days."

The process works like this: PC Canlas delivers a project. They invoice P&G or L'Oréal or another client. Instead of waiting 150 days, they complete the invoice financing application Philippines process by uploading the invoice to Jia. Jia advances a percentage of the invoice value. PC Canlas gets cash to pay workers, buy materials, and take on the next project.

When the client pays, the loan is settled. You pay us once you receive payment from your client, based on your agreed terms.

"It's very convenient," Clang says. "That's really our need."

The impact was immediate. Payroll stopped being a crisis. The company could accept more orders because they had cash to fund the materials and labor upfront. And they weren't alone in waiting for money anymore.

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The Dashboard That Shows Everything

One thing Clang highlights: the visibility.

"With Jia, everything's so fast," she says. "And I love the dashboard where we can see all the loan IDs and we know when it's already on grace period or it's already delinquent. Everything's accessible."

For a business running multiple projects across fabrication and construction, that matters. It's not just about getting money. It's about knowing where you stand.

The bank approval process took a year and involved piles of paperwork, in-person visits, and waiting. Jia's process took days.

"It's very convenient. It's fast, convenient, and very modern," Clang says.

She also mentions the people. "Every one of them are very approachable and understanding of our situation."

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Why Same Day Invoice Financing Philippines Matters

Most invoice financing companies Philippines businesses encounter operate on timelines that don't match the urgency of payroll.

PC Canlas needed cash to pay 400 employees every week. A financing facility that takes two weeks to approve doesn't solve that. A facility that takes two days does.

"With Jia, everything's so fast," Clang says.

Jia has financed over 15,000 invoices across 8+ industries since 2022. Over $20 million originated. Loan sizes range from ₱100K to ₱15M, with most falling between ₱500K and ₱12M.

Approval takes less than 24 hours. Disbursement can be same-day. That's what same day invoice financing Philippines actually means for a business like PC Canlas.

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400 Families

PC Canlas went from 10 employees to 1,000 at its peak. After the pandemic, they stabilized at 400. Those 400 people show up every week because they know they'll get paid.

"The pandemic was one of the hardest times," Clang says. "Our other companies gave up already. But we're still here, and we still give employment to our employees."

Her father built the business on relationships. He personally presented mockups to P&G when they first called. He treated employees like family. That culture persists.

"My father is very approachable," Clang says. "We always consider them employees because they're our most important asset."

Funding the business means funding those 400 families. It means keeping the lights on in Marikina. It means being able to say yes when a client sends a rush order for the entire quarter.

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What's Next

In five years, Clang sees the company still thriving in construction and fabrication. They're exploring retail fabrication direct to consumer. More growth. More projects. More employees.

But growth requires cash. Growth requires not waiting 150 days to get paid.

"If we have a lot of receivables, and we need cash to pay our employees weekly, and whenever we need cash to accept more projects, we tap in and get the working capital we need so we can cater to more projects," Clang says.

That's the business. Take the order. Deliver the work. Pay the people. Do it again.

The only question is whether you have the cash to start.

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Talk to us about the invoices you're waiting on.

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