Lacson urges gov’t to address issues ‘pestering’ nat’l ID implementation

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday urged the national government to quickly address the “pestering issues” in the National ID System implementation.

“If the national government is really serious to implement the National ID system and capture as many registrants and serve the purpose of better delivery of social services to our people - including more efficient revenue collection, effective anti-corruption and anti-criminality efforts and the like - they better resolve some pestering issues quickly and surely,” Lacson said in a statement.

He cited various stumbling blocks that “slowed” the implementation of the National ID Law such as the controversies in the awarding of contracts in outsourcing supply and services, the crashing of the Philippine Statistics Authority website due to the unanticipated surge of applicants, and the long hours of waiting for the second part of the registration process.

“The key to the effective implementation of the National ID System or PhilSys Act is our ability to 'capture the universe' and encourage as many Filipinos to sign up and register,” Lacson, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said.

“It has already taken a long time since its passage and the implementation of the said law is now taking off the ground. If the issues are left unaddressed, it will be another missed opportunity to uplift the lives of our people in more ways than one,” he added.

In April, the PSA website experienced “technical difficulties” on the first day of the online registration, which is the first step for the National ID application.

The PSA said in June said that more than 12 million Filipinos have already completed the second step of registration for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) or National ID.

Step 2 involves the collection of biometric data such as fingerprint scans, iris scans, and a front-facing photograph at local registration centers.

Meanwhile, Step 3 will involve the issuance of the PhilSys Number (PSN) and the physical ID (PhilID).

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the proposed national identification system into law in 2018 to harmonize and integrate several government IDs. — DVM, GMA News