PhilSys registers over 69% of population in W. Visayas
ILOILO City – Over 5.5 million or 69.10 percent of the 7.9 million population of Western Visayas are now registered with the Philippine I d e n t i f i c a t i o n S y s t e m (PhilSys).
Coverage consisted of face- to- face step 1 and 2 registration, and step 1 of the online registration, according to Regional Director Nelida Amolar of the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) – Regional Statistical Services
Office 6 (RSSO 6).
All registration teams except for those assigned in fixed centers inside the malls have been deployed down to the barangays, institutions, and far-flung areas to reach out to those who are unlisted with the PhilSys, Amolar added.
“We are j ust mapping out what was left of the four provinces that were piloted before. Our challenge is more
on transportation so we are glad that some local government units are supporting our teams,” she said.
The provinces of Antique, Capiz, Iloilo and Negros Occidental were among the areas identified for the pilot of the PhilSys registration in 2020.
Amolar said the health pandemic no longer hampers the registration, especially since most of the provinces in the region are already under Alert Level 1.
The fixed registration centers
in Iloilo are based at the Iloilo Midtown Hotel, Robinsons Place Iloilo, and SM City while 24 mobile teams are deployed in the province.
A standby team has been deployed at t he PSA civil registration outlet for applicants with no national IDs.
Meanwhile, 1, 563,718 IDs have been delivered out of the 1,674,786 national IDs received by the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) for distribution.
“The PSA, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and PHLPost is trying its best that all those who registered can receive their IDs this year,” Amolar said.
She said nationwide, 16 million out of the 31 million target IDs for
this year have been printed and the target is to release all IDs by the end of December 2022.
Signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.
The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.
It will also boost efficiency, especially i n dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions.