Identifying the Filipino

OBTAINING an NBI clearance may be needed for many things in the Philippines, among them renewing your passport or owning a firearm. The process however, can be incredibly long hit, as how the bureau calls it, can - ties. In most cases, the hit is caused by a system error, wherein another and a previous criminal record. This leads to days of added work as an agent is on boarded to verify other similar processes in the Phil often overlooked that directly lead to a loss in productivity of the average Filipino. Ultimately, such affects the domestic GDP (gross domestic product).

For nearly two decades, the government of the Philippines has attempted to establish a national ID system. Attempts have faced opposition on constitutional and privacy grounds. Former President Fidel Ramos first attempted in 1996 with Administrative Order No. 308 to establish a National Computerized Identification System but was stopped by the Supreme Court on the ground that legislative approval was required. Executive Order No. 420 followed in 2005 and required all government-related entities to combine their ID systems. While privacy concerns remained, the order eventually gave rise to what we know today now as UMID.

transactions in the Philippines requires at least two governmentissued ID cards that bear the photo of the cardholder. Often, however, merchants and even government institutions get confused by the seemingly endless list of allowed identifications cards. UMID attempted to put a stop to that and combine applications for government institutions but so far, has only been able to cover less than 8 percent of the population. According to users on Reddit, the issuance of UMID cards currently takes at least six months.

In 2014, the House of Representatives passed Bill No. 5020—An Act Establishing the Filipino National Identification System. It is now awaiting approval by the Senate.

Few grasp the potential ad of having a resilient national ID system. Most Filipinos have never of applying for a loan within minutes or applying for government documents online. Take a look at India for example. The govern- ment implemented a national ID database called “Aadhaar,” the Hindi word for “foundation,” with a lot of opposition. Now, when you walk into a phone shop, you have two options to apply for a new phone plan. One way requires a wad of documents, multiple signatures, plenty of patience, and often weeks to go through “knowyour-customer” procedures. The second way is magically simple: the person rests a finger on an inch-wide scanner, and if the print matches the identity the customer is claiming, the system downloads the information it needs from the authorities and activates the phone plan within minutes.

The system that was set up in 2009 to distribute direct welfare payments is now tapped into by private companies and its openaccess nature allows a wide array of useful applications to shorten - dians. Reports suggest that the system already saved the government