MANILA – One million households in three regions would be the first to get national identification cards, by December, as the government begins its pilot test, officials said recently.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) into law last Aug. 6, establishing a single national id for all citizens which will be implemented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Select families from the National Capital Region, Region 4A and the Cordillera Region will participate in the pilot launch subject to the approval of the PhilSys Policy and Coordination Council, officials of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a joint briefing.
The government is pushing for the publication of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) by end of September or the first week of October, the PSA said.
The NEDA and PSA expect the full registration of all Filipinos to happen in 4 years.
PhilSys could improve financial inclusion, boost the digital economy, reduce corruption, improve efficiency of social services and promote ease of doing business, NEDA undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon told reporters in a press briefing.
Data collected will be limited to basic demographic and biometric information to avoid having a master database that is vulnerable to hackers, authorities said.
Authorities estimated the spending for the development and implementation of the national ID system to reach P30 to P32 billion.
A consortium comprised of Unisys Philippines, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp and Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc submitted an unsolicited proposal to the PSA to design and develop the national ID system. (ABS-CBN News)
