MANILA – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) began yesterday the pre-registration process for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) in four Western Visayas provinces.
Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Antique, and Capiz were among the 32 priority provinces.
PSA personnel will visit households until Dec. 30 this year, according to deputy national statistician and PSA assistant secretary Rosalinda Bautista.
They will use tablets to gather demographic information such as full name, gender, date of birth, place of birth, address whether Filipino or resident alien, marital status, mobile number, and email address.
The second step in the registration process is the biometric capturing of the pre-registered individuals in the registration center, which will start on Nov. 25.
The PSA takes the lead in the conduct of the PhilSys registration, with the support of various government agencies and local government units.
Those registered with PhilSys will get a government-issued identification card and proof of identity.
The PhilSys national ID will contain a quick response code with the owner’s two fingerprint data and a unique 12-digit identification number called the PhilSys number assigned upon birth or registration to the PhilSys.
According to Bautista, the PSA abides by the Data Privacy Act, thus an individual’s information is secured.
“Paglapit po sa inyo, isa po sa standard ng proseso ay tatanungin ang respondent kung willing siya magparehistro at ibigay ang kaniyang impormasyon. Pag hindi siya pumayag, hindi po natin siya pwede ipilit at di rin pwede idemanda dahil ayaw niya,” Bautista told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
“May karapatan po ang bawat Pilipino na maprotektahan ang kaniyang personal information kaya po ‘yung pagkuha namin ng impormasyon ay talaga pong napaka-secured. Sumusunod po kami sa Data Privacy Act ng 2012,” she added.
The National Economic and Development Authority earlier said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to fully automate the country’s data gathering and statistical system.
The national identification system seeks to integrate all government IDs into a single national ID./PN