Lawmakers approve National ID System

FILE: FilSys referred as “ID system” intends to provide official identification of all citizens of the Philippines through the issuance of the Filipino Identification Card (FilID). (Photo: House of Representatives of the Philippines/Facebook.com)

National Identification System is now approved by the House of Representatives.

The establishing of National Identification Database System or the Filipino Identification System (FilSys) has already been passed on third and final reading by 142 lawmakers, then vetoed by seven, and abstained by zero on Friday.

FilSys referred as “ID system” intends to provide official identification of all citizens of the Philippines through the issuance of the Filipino Identification Card (FilID).

The issuance of national ID system is among the Duterte administration’s legislative agenda.

House Bill no. 6221 under section 3 says, The Filipino Identification System is “hereby established and instituted as an economic and social tool towards the attainment of a progressive society through the provision of efficient services to all Filipinos.”

All Filipinos residing in the Philippines or abroad are mandated to register personal information required by the ID system; it is a non-transferrable Filipino ID card with an ID number that shall be valid for life.

The Filipino ID contains personal data of the cardholder— including the owner’s full name, name suffix, front-facing photograph, sex, date of birth, place of birth, permanent address, and blood type that will be considered as a type of official government-issued identification document.

FilID will be under the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), while the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be handling the registration of Filipinos residing abroad.

According to the House Bill, government offices mentioned shall create a special unit which shall be responsible for: accepting applicants for a Filipino ID Card; processing of such applications; and releasing the Filipino ID card to the applicants.

Meanwhile, Laguna Representative Sol Aragones earlier cleared that Filipinos have nothing to worry regarding their privacy.  Aragones said that the Department of Information and Communications Technology is in charge for technical security measures of the FilSys, even the National Privacy Commission. Aragones is one of the authors of the bill.