Over 61M PhilIDs, ePhilIDs delivered — PSA

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday announced that over 61 million Filipinos have been issued with their Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) IDs.

In a statement, the PSA said that so far 29.84 million PhilIDs or national IDs have been delivered by the Philippine Postal Corporation (Post Office).

The agency added that, at present, a total of 37.11 million PhilIDs were printed from the facilities of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which accounts for nearly half or 47.3% of the recorded Step 2 registrants at 78.49 million.

To bridge this gap and ensure that individuals can immediately access the benefits of registering to the PhilSys, the PSA said it introduced the ePhilID (the digital version of the national ID that is printed at registration centers) which holds the same functionality and validity as the physical card.

The agency said 31.7 million ePhilIDs have already been delivered.

“This brings a combined total of 61.54 million PhilIDs and ePhilIDs delivered, which can already be used by registrants in transactions,” the PSA said.

The number of delivered PhilIDs and ePhilIDs accounted for 78.4% of the total Step 2 registrants —means the appearance at registration centers to capture biometric information and verify demographic details.

Despite issuing ePhilIDs, the PSA said it is continuously engaging with the BSP and Post Office to further accelerate the printing and delivery of the physical cards.

“The PSA takes great pride in these milestones secured by PhilSys, including huge strides toward the government’s goal of financial inclusion,” it said.

“Through the co-location strategy with the Land Bank of the Philippines during PhilSys registration, about 8.4 million unbanked Filipinos gained access to formal financial services, of which 5.8 million were able to open transaction accounts. A total of P275.8 million worth of transactions have already circulated in said accounts,” it added.

The PSA said it is also collaborating with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for a data matching exercise, where individuals belonging in poor households from the Listahanan are matched with the PhilSys Registry to verify uniqueness.

The PSA is currently verifying 30.5 million individuals from 5.4 million households in the Listahanan. — Ted Cordero/RSJ, GMA Integrated News