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National ID rollout to get P4.1B under proposed 2021 budget -Duterte


President Rodrigo Duterte told Congress that the government plans to spend P4.1 billion to expedite the implementation of the national ID system next year.

Duterte made the pitch to lawmakers as he previously lamented that the execution of the national ID system could have solved the discrepancies in the distribution of cash assistance to low-income families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To assist in cleaning up the registries of 4Ps [Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program] and other means-tested programs as well as enable the faster provision of financial subsidies to the poor, a total of P4.1 billion will likewise be allotted to fast-track the implementation of and registration to the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys),” Duterte said in his message on the proposed P4.506-trillion national budget for 2021.

He also proposed a P85-million budget for the community based monitoring system to assist local government units in improving their local residence registries, which will complement the PhilSys in the targeting and the provision of economic and social services, especially during calamities and disasters.

The PhilSys seeks to harmonize, integrate, and interconnect redundant government IDs by establishing a national identification system.

The national ID will contain the PhilSys number, full name, facial image, sex, date of birth, blood type, and address of the concerned individual.

The Philippine Statistics Authority earlier targeted mass registration for the program in mid-2020, but its implementation was stalled by the COVID-19 crisis.

Duterte signed the Philippine Identification System Act in August 2018. -MDM, GMA News