More than 60 million Filipinos have completed step two of the registration process for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Monday.
The second step in the three-part registration process for PhilSys involves capturing biometric information such as fingerprints, iris and front-facing photographs at registration centers.
National statistician and PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa said 60,483,095 Filipinos had completed registering their biometrics as of March 16.
The PSA earlier said 8,176,454 national IDs had been delivered as of March 4, which is still far from the government’s target for 2022 to deliver 33,800,000 IDs.
President Rodrigo Duterte in February institutionalized the acceptance of the national ID as proof of identity and age in all government and private transactions.
Duterte also directed covered agencies to integrate the components and accommodate the features of PhilSys, especially in their citizen’s charters.
Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11055, or the PhilSys Act, in August 2018.
It sought to establish a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens of the Philippines and make the delivery of public and social services more efficient and transparent.
It was also intended to “reduce corruption and curtail bureaucratic red tape” to avert fraudulent transactions and to promote ease of doing business.
The PSA is mandated to lead the PhilSys, with support from a policy and coordination board composed of the National Economic and Development Authority and other government agencies. John Ezekiel J. Hirro