National ID registration on track despite curbs
REGISTRATION operations for the National ID will not be hampered by the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
On Monday, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told the Businessmirror that PSA Registration Centers, particularly in areas outside of Metro Manila and nearby provinces under ECQ, will continue operating.
Registration Centers are crucial for Step 2 registration, which requires biometrics and iris scans needed for the National ID. As of March 25, 2021, some 1.6 million Filipinos have already completed this step.
“We have challenges, but most of our Registration Centers in the 32 provinces are still open and accepting Step 2 registrants for their biometrics capture,” Mapa said. “No change in our target.”
The PSA earlier said that it intends to register between 50 million and 70 million Filipinos in Step 2 of the National ID registration this year. At least 27 million Filipinos may already receive their Philsys IDS this year.
Mapa said the PSA has registered about 26.6 million Filipinos under step 1 as of March 26. This figure includes around 10.6 million registered between October 12, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
The numbers for Step 1 registration is expected to increase after the Holy Week when the process will be open to the public. Currently, this process is being done through PSA enumerators who collect information on a face-toface basis per household in provinces that have low Covid-19 cases.
“We will have online Step 1 registration opening soon, after the Holy Week,” Mapa said.
Step 1 involves obtaining demographic information and setting up the Step appointment schedule of households.
The Step 2 Registration, which 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, is currently taking place in 32 priority provinces.