73% of Filipinos favor national ID system

Most Filipinos have expressed “extremely strong” approval for the implementation of the national ID system, even before it was signed into law last August 6.

In the nationwide Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from June 27 to 30 with 1,200 respondents, 73 percent of Filipinos approved, and 18 percent disapproved, the

proposal to make a single ID for the various identification cards currently held by Filipinos. This translates to a net approval score (percent approve minus percent disapprove) of +55 percent, classified by SWS as “extremely strong.”

Nine percent did not know enough to give an opinion.

Net approval of having a national ID system in the Philippines was also extremely strong in Metro Manila at +60 percent (77 percent approve, 18 percent disapprove), the rest of Luzon at +58 (76 percent approve, 18 percent disapprove), and Visayas at +53 percent (68 percent approve, 15 percent disapprove).

Approval of Filipinos in Mindanao was very strong at +48 percent (68 percent approve, 21 percent disapprove).

Likewise, net approval of the national ID system was extremely strong in both urban and rural areas at +58 percent (76 percent approve, 18 percent disapprove), and +53 (70 percent approve, 17 percent disapprove), respectively.

Net approval of having a national ID system was also extremely strong at +61 (76 percent approve, 15 percent disapprove) among those who were satisfied with the performance of President Duterte, higher compared to the very strong +46 (69 percent approve, 23 percent disapprove) among those who were dissatisfied with him.

On the question, “In your opinion, how much help will the National ID system be to you?” – 32 percent said it will be a very big help, 28 percent answered big help, 26 percent said moderate help, and 8 percent said little help.

The remaining 5 percent said the national ID system will be of almost no help at all.

The proportion of those who said the national ID system will be a big help was highest in Metro Manila at 67 percent (33 percent very big help, 34 percent big help), followed by the rest of Luzon at 61 percent (27 percent very big help, 34 percent big help), Mindanao at 57 percent (38 percent very big help, 19 percent big help), and Visayas at 57 percent (34 percent very big help, 23 percent big help).

By locale, it was 63 percent (37 percent very big help, 26 percent big help) in urban areas, and 57 percent (27 percent very big help, 30 percent big help) in rural areas.

It was slightly higher among those who were satisfied with the performance of President Duterte, at 64 percent (36 percent very big help, 28 percent big help), compared to those who were dissatisfied with him, at 54 percent (23 percent very big help, 31 percent big help).

With the statement, “the government can be trusted to protect private information contained in the national ID,” 61 percent agreed, and 8 percent disagreed. Meanwhile, 30 percent were undecided on the matter.

This translates to a net agreement score (percent agree minus percent disagree) of +53percent, which is extremely strong.

Agreement was highest in Mindanao at +59 percent (64 percent agree, 5 percent disagree), followed by Visayas at +53 percent (60 percent agree, 7 percent disagree), the rest of Luzon at +52 percent (60 percent agree, 8 percent disagree), and Metro Manila at +50 percent (65 percent agree, 14 percent disagree).

By locale, it was at +55percent (60 percent agree, 5 percent disagree) in rural areas, and at +52 percent (63 percent agree, 11 percent disagree) in urban areas.

Net agreement that the government can be trusted to protect the private information in the national ID was extremely strong at +64percent (69 percent agree, 5 percent disagree) among those who were satisfied with President Duterte, compared to the very strong +39 percent (55 percent agree, 16 percent disagree) among those who were dissatisfied with him.

The survey also found that 49 percent have much trust, 39 percent are undecided, and 13 percent have little trust that the government will not use the national ID against those who oppose them.

This gives a net trust score (percent much trust minus percent little trust) of +36, classified by SWS as good.

Net trust that the national ID will not be used against those who oppose the government was highest in Mindanao at a good +41 (53 percent much trust, 12 percent little trust), followed by the rest of Luzon at a good +37 percent (47 percent much trust, 10 percent little trust), Visayas at a good +31percent (47 percent much trust, 16 percent little trust), and Metro Manila at a moderate +28percent (48 percent much trust, 20 percent little trust).

It was good across locale – +36 percent in rural areas (47 percent much trust, 11 percent little trust), and +35 percent in urban areas (50 percent much trust, 15 percent little trust).

Net trust that the national ID will not be used against those who oppose the government was a good +43 percent (54 percent much trust, 11 percent little trust) among those who were satisfied with President Duterte, compared to the moderate +21 percent (41 percent much trust, 20 percent little trust) among those who were dissatisfied with him.