The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases has allowed persons aged 15 to 17 and above 65 years old to go out of their homes to register for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
In its 114th resolution, the pandemic task force deemed registration for the national identification system as “essential government service.”
An individual’s demographic data, including full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type and address and biometric information including a front-facing photograph, full set of fingerprints and an iris scan will be printed on the PhilSys ID.
The Philippine Statistics Authority is mandated to lead in the rollout of the PhilSys, with support from a policy and coordination board composed of the National Economic and Development Authority and other government agencies.
Duterte signed the law creating the National ID system back in 2018, to harmonize and integrate several and redundant government IDs through a single national ID system.
It was also intended to “reduce corruption and curtail bureaucratic red tape” to avert fraudulent transactions and to promote ease of doing business.
PhilSys registration started last April 30.
Government officials earlier said that PhilSys would help expedite the country’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout by providing faster identity verification. John Ezekiel J. Hirro