Mass registration for nat'l ID system moved to October due to COVID-19 —PSA exec

The schedule of mass registration for the national identification (ID) system will be moved to October, according to an official of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Monday.

"Ang original plan ho natin is July this year, 'yun ho talaga ang approved timeline, pero because of COVID we have to move 'yung timeline natin so ang target po natin ngayon ay October of this year we will already start 'yung mass registration," PSA Deputy National Statistician Assistant Secretary Lourdines Dela Cruz said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.

He added that 10 million heads of households will be targeted in the mass registration to align the purpose of the national ID system to the needs of the country amid the COVID-19 situation.

The marginalized and poor sector will also be prioritized to create a clean database that may be used for distribution of government assistance.

To further promote social distancing amid the pandemic, Dela Cruz said the PSA will launch an online pre-registration system.

"Parang sa passport na lahat ng information, 'yung demographic information mo ay ilalagay mo na doon sa online. Tapos ang gagawin mo na lang, pupunta ka sa center para kukunin na lang 'yung biometric information mo. So mabilis ang pag-stay ng isang tao doon sa registration center," he said.

The PSA will also roll out mobile registration in local communities  for those who do not have access to the Internet.

"'Yung PSA na ho mismo ang pupunta sa bawat barangay para ho sila na ang kumuha ng datos ng mga Pilipino," Dela Cruz said.

Several senators earlier urged for the swift implementation of the national ID system to address the disparities in databases of the local government units and national government agencies.

The call has been made amid the delayed distribution of social amelioration program for 18 million poor families whose income sources have been affected by the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon and other high-risk areas.

President Rodrigo Duterte has blamed the absence of a national ID system for the convoluted distribution of the emergency cash aid.

A Senate probe is in the pipeline to check the status of the implementation of the Philippine Identification System Act which has been signed into law in August 2018.

Despite a total allocated budget of P6 billion from 2018 to 2020, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson said that "there seems to be no significant headway on its implementation."

On the other hand, Dela Cruz said that equipment for mass registration such as laptops, fingerprint and iris scanners have been procured and used in pilot registrations in 2019.

The national ID system seeks to harmonize, integrate, and interconnect the countless and redundant government IDs by establishing a single national identification system.

This ID will contain the PhilSys number, full name, facial image, sex, date of birth, blood type, and address of the concerned individual. --KBK, GMA News