Over 3M Pinoys registered for Nat’l ID system

FILE: Sample of the front design of the PhilSyS/Philippine Identification Document (ID) card. (Photo By Philippine Statistics Office – Philippine Information Agency, Public Domain)

MANILA – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday reported that around 3,315,000 low-income Filipinos have taken the first step of the registration phase for the Philippine identification system (PhilSys).

“Given the current count and the pace of our operations, we are confident that we will hit our nine-million-target for Step 1 Registration, before the year ends,” National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Rosalinda Bautista said the PSA’s field personnel for PhilSys, commonly known as the national ID system, have slowed down their ground operations due to the onslaught of Super Typhoon Rolly (international name Goni).

However, Bautista said the PhilSys registration process is still on track.

“The high productivity recorded during the first three weeks compensated for the reduced registrations during the typhoon,” she added.

Bautista said as of Nov.4, the PSA has reached 120 percent of its target for step 1 of the PhilSys registration.

The first step in the registration involves the collection of the registrant’s information, including full name, gender, date, and place of birth, blood type, and address.

It will be followed by the setting up of an appointment for the biometrics capture that includes fingerprint, iris scan, and front-facing photograph.

According to the PSA, the registration will only take five-minutes per individual wherein an enumerator could record around 46 registrations daily, on average.

The PSA earlier noted that the registration team, including the enumerators and other pre-registration staff, will follow stringent health and safety protocols in the duration of the registration process, to keep them safe against the risks of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infection.

Bautista earlier said the third step of the registration is the issuance of a physical ID card stored with a 12-digit PhilSys number or personal serial number (PSN) and 16-digit PhilSys card number (PCN).

The PSA targets to register the majority of Filipinos by the end of 2022.

The PSA has started collecting demographic data from targeted low-income Filipinos in 664 cities and municipalities in 32 provinces identified as “low-risk” areas for coronavirus outbreak, including Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Albay, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Compostela Valley, Davao Del Norte, Davao Del Sur, Davao Occidental, and Tawi-Tawi.

Signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.

The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrolment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.

It will also boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present the ID during transactions.