P25 B needed for Nat’l ID System

An estimated P25 billion is needed for the proposed National ID System that will unify all national ID systems, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

In a statement, the agency said the estimated budget for five years would cover the systems design hardware and registration of the current population stock.

Out of the total requirement, P2 billion has already been made available to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for the design of the system and procurement of the necessary hardware and software. A facility to house the requisite hardware will also be constructed.

The proposed National ID System recently hurdled the second reading at the Senate and passed the third reading at the House of Representatives last year.

Socieconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said a unified ID system would enable more Filipinos to have access to public services and development opportunities.

Citing a recent study of the World Bank’s ID for Development group, Pernia said despite the numerous IDs in existence in the Philippines, 14 percent of Filipinos are denied of government and other financial services due to a lack of proper identification documents.

NEDA said the World Bank study was based on data collected from November 2017 to Feb- ruary 2018 through interviews, field visits and desk research. Results of the study also show that the Philippines’ identity landscape is “fragmented, inefficient and duplicative” with at least 25 functional ID systems, many of which are paper-based.

A common ID used by Filipinos apart from birth certificates and voter’s ID is the passport, “back-office processing requirements” which are twice and thrice costlier than in Thailand and Indonesia, respectively, the study said.