Gov’t allows persons aged 15-17, above 65 to leave homes to register for national ID

The government’s COVID-19 task force has allowed persons aged 15 to 17 and those above 65 to leave their residences to register for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) or national ID.

In a resolution approved on Thursday, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) acknowledged that registration to the PhilSys is “an essential government service and in support of the vaccine deployment to the general population.”

The government requires applicants to visit the registration centers for the validation of supporting documents and capture of biometric information such as fingerprints, iris scans, and front-facing photographs.

After this, the applicant will be issued a PhilSys number and a physical ID.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which is in charge of the national ID project, started accepting online applications last April 30. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News