First 5 of millions of National IDS given to Duterte, officials
THE first five of millions of National Identification cards were given to President Rodrigo Duterte and four other top national government officials as the administration expects over a fifth of the Philippine population could receive theirs this year.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Deputy National Statistician Rosalinda P. Bautista told the Businessmirror that at least 27 million Filipinos may receive their Philsys IDS this year.
Apart from the President, those who received their National IDS last week were Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado and Senator Christopher T. Go.
“Our target registration is at least 50 million but ID production will be lower. However, the PSA and the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] are already talking to address this concern,” Bautista told the Businessmirror.
She told the Businessmirror that National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa and Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua have yet to receive their IDS. The PSA is one of seven agencies attached to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
However, Bautista assured the National Statistician and Neda Director General that IDS will be made available this year along with the IDS of those Filipinos who completed their Step 2 registration.
The registration for the National ID was done in three steps. Step 1 involved obtaining demographic information which, due to lockdown measures, was done through enumerators who made house calls in areas where the number of Covid-19 cases were not considered “high.”
The PSA recently announced that it will soon open the Step 1 Registration to the public through online registrations. The PSA hopes to encourage tech-savvy youth to encourage and help members of their family register through the Philsys portal.
Step 2, meanwhile, involves the validation of supporting documents and capture of biometric information, such as fingerprints, iris scans, and front-facing photographs at registration centers as per the registrants’ appointments set under Step 1.
Step 3 of the registration process, according to the PSA, includes the issuance of the Philsys Number and the National ID.
T hep sn is randomly generated and will serve as a permanent identification number for every registrant; each can be used for digital transactions. T heps a partnered with the philippine Postal Corp. for the delivery of the PSN and Philid to registrants.
The latest data from the PSA showed that as of February 26, a total of 20.13 million Filipinos have completed Step 1 registrations for the Philippine Identification System (Philsys).
National Statistician Mapa told the Businessmirror last week the figure includes the 10.6 million who registered last year. Mapa said the target for the first three months of 2021 is also within reach.
For 2021, the PSA intends to register between 50 million to 70 million Filipinos in Step 2 of the National ID registration. Mapa told the Businessmirror this is “doable” considering the number of Step-1 registrants completed last year and as of February this year.
He explained that if the Step 1 registration target for the first quarter of 14.9 million is achieved, this will bring the total Step 1 registration to 25.5 million by March 31, 2021.
Efforts to complete the registration of these Filipinos for Step 2 will be aided by the PSA’S plans to fully operate the National ID registration this month.