After the National ID System, universal bank accounts?
The Covid-19 pandemic has drawn into the news the need for the National ID System as a means of identity verification during a crisis.
Before there was any hint of a worldwide pandemic, President Duterte already signed on August 6, 2018 Republic Act 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act (Philsys Act). The ID system will centralize demographic and biometric information of all Filipino Citizens and resident aliens. It will generate a unique lifetime Philsysnumber that the ID holder will use for all his government and private transactions. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) issued the implementing rules and regulations with the primary objective of the system to “provide a valid proof of identity for all citizens and resident aliens as a means of simplifying public and private transactions; a social and economic platform which shall serve as “the link in the promotion of seamless service delivery, enhancing
administrative governance, reducing corruption, strengthening financial inclusion, and promoting ease of doing business.”
The information to be collected are demographic data: full name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, blood type, address, Filipino or Resident Alien, and optional information such as marital status, cell phone number, and e-mail address. The biometric information is interesting. Aside from the front face photograph and a full set of fingerprints, an iris scan of the eye will be made.
The iris is a membrane in front of the eye, which regulates the amount of light going inside. It can be colored blue, brown, green, grey, or in Asians, black. Iris scanning uses a camera and statistical algorithms to capture and store an image of the iris. The iris has more details than the retina,
The information to be collected are demographic data: full name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, blood type, address, Filipino or Resident Alien, and optional information such as marital status, cell phone number, and e-mail address. The biometric information is interesting. Aside from the front face photograph and a full set of fingerprints, an iris scan of the eye will be made.
hence is more secure compared to a retinal scanning.
This factoid aside, the urgency of the National ID System was brought to the front during the Covid-19 pandemic. The whole of Luzon was put under the enhance community quarantine. The social amelioration program (SAP) to give a P5,000 to P8,000 cash subsidy to each qualified household in affected sectors of the community was implemented, but suffered delays due to discrepancies between the databases of the national government and the local government units that were tasked with the actual cash distribution.
Could we have done better in distributing the SAP aid? I think so. The Philippine ID system is a logical and practical act to have a unified ID system that will make transactions faster, more convenient and secure. But to prepare for another pandemic, crises, or catastrophe brought by viruses, typhoons, drought, f looding, and earthquakes that cause massive destruction, suffering, and loss of life, we need to reach our people and those heavily affected in the correct manner and span of time.
Not all forms of aid are given in the likes of food packs, food coupons, gift checks and EMV cards. These kinds of aids might not be practical in terms of logistics and manpower use. They could be prone to errors, delays, wastage, spoilage and corruption. Initiating a bank account for all Filipino citizens and alien residents who are ID holders under the Philippine Identification System Act
See “Cangco,” A7