Diokno sees national ID system implemented this year

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno is optimistic that the proposed national ID system will be rolled out within the year once the measure has been enacted into law.

“I think we can do it in one year ... This will be up and running in one or two quarters,” Diokno told reporters during a breakfast forum in Manila on Wednesday.

The Philippines is looking at how India was able to cover more than one billion people with its national ID system in three years.

“India has a population of 1.4 billion and they were able to do it in three years, and we have a population of 100 million. So, I believe we can do it in one year,” Diokno said.

He is hopeful that the measure establishing a national ID system will be passed into law as early as next week.

The Senate Committee on Justice has approved Senate Bill 1736 or “An Act Establishing the Philippine Identification System” sponsored by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

The proposed measure seeks to harmonize, integrate, and interconnect countless and redundant government IDs by establishing a single national identification system to be known as the Philippine Identification System or PhilSys.     

PhilSys will have three key components: the PhilSys Number or PSN, the PhilID, and the PhilSys Registry.

In September 2017, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading its version of the bill seeking to establish an identification system via national ID cards for all Filipinos.

Diokno said the government will start the enrollment process, or gathering data for the national ID system, all over the country 30 days after it is signed into law by President Duterte.

An initial funding of P2 billion has been earmakred for the implementation of the national ID system under the 2018 national budget.

“The PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) will be the lead agency for this and they will hire a third party, which has the equipment and will go all over the country to get the pictures and biometrics,” Diokno noted.

Once the ID system is in place, the PSA will turn it over to the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

A national ID system will initially benefit those receiving cash subsidies from the government as proper identification will reduce leakages in disbursing cash assistance.

“This unified system would promote seamless delivery of services, improve the efficiency, transparency, and targeted delivery of public and social services, and enhance administrative governance,” Diokno said.

"It is also expected to reduce corruption, bureaucratic red tape, avert fraudulent transactions and misrepresentations, strengthen financial inclusion, and promote ease of doing business," he added.

To address concerns about privacy, DBM-ICT Director Angel Magtalas said the data to be collected for the national ID system shall be limited to demographic information such as name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, address.

The biometrics information will include the face of a citizen, full set of fingerprints, iris scan, and other identifiable features of an individual.

“The national ID system will make more efficient the provision of government services to the Filipino people. We will not charge for this,” Diokno said. —VDS, GMA News