Nat'l ID registration in Bulacan suspended as public swarm venue

Registration for the national ID system was suspended in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan on Wednesday as people swarmed the area, in violation social distancing measures.

According to Jun Veneracion’s Thursday report on “24 Oras,” the local government had only expected 1,600 registrants who were contacted via text message to go the shopping mall where the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had organized the registration.

However, up to 4,000 registrants showed up at the venue, most of whom were not scheduled that day.

“Pina-suspend muna namin ‘yung kanilang operations yesterday afternoon atsaka today and most probably tomorrow, suspended pa rin [We suspended the operations yesterday afternoon, today, and most probably we'll also suspend tomorrow],” Atty. Rizaldy Mendoza, Assistant City Administrator, said.

“Kasi nga, gusto ko sanang ang city makialam doon sa sistema nila para po maiayos natin ‘yung sistema ng PSA [Because I want the city to get involved in their system so we can fix it.],” he added.

Marian Santiago, one of the registrants, said she felt mad due to the people's lack of discipline amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Obviously, dikit-dikit and magulo. It’s— may matanda, may bata, so walang sistema [Obviously, there was no space and it was chaos. There were seniors, young people, no system was in place],” she said.

GMA News has reached out to the PSA for comment.

For siblings Elaine and Mary Rose Saraga, however, what happened was not new.

“Hindi na rin po ako nagulat kasi nung 18 po kumuha kami ng National ID, which is napakadami ding tao. Siksikan, walang social distancing,” Elaine said.

(I’m not surprised because we went to get a National ID on the 18th, and it was also crowded. There place was packed and there was no social distancing.) - Joahna Lei Casilao/MDM, GMA News