MANILA – The national identification (ID) will not only provide a foundational ID system in the country but will also ensure that all Filipinos will be included in the financial system.
This was stressed by Vicente de Villa III, managing director of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Financial Technology Sub-Sector, during the last day of the three-day Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) virtual convention Thursday.
De Villa said the national ID is not restrictive in terms of limiting people’s access from cash transactions to digital transactions, which the central bank is pushing.
“It’s actually opening it up for others. There are those who are not yet included in the financial system because they do not have any form of valid identification, which that national ID will serve,” he said.
The government started this month the registration of the initial nine million Filipinos under the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
It targets to provide national IDs to about 92 million Filipinos by end-June 2022.
De Villa said the national ID program supports the central bank’s bid to increase financial inclusion since Filipinos who are previously excluded from the formal financial system will now be part of it.
The central bank aims to have around 70 percent of adult Filipinos part of the financial system by 2023.
Monetary authorities said PhilSys will greatly boost this goal since people will have an ID that is needed to open a bank account.
The BSP earlier said opening of basic deposit accounts rose significantly after the government implemented the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from mid-March to end-April in Luzon.
The ECQ was extended until end-May in Metro Manila.
The increase was attributed to the need for people, especially those who are beneficiaries of the social amelioration program (SAP) and other forms of subsidy from the government, to have a deposit account.
Another plus to the financial inclusion goal is a strong internet connection to allow more people to transact digitally, which also got a boost during the quarantine.