IATF: Amid coronavirus threat, implementation of national ID system a ‘challenge’

MANILA, Philippines — While agreeing it would have been “helpful,” the implementation of the national ID system is a “challenge” amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health crisis.

Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said this following the suggestion of Senate President Vicente Sotto III for a “full-blown execution” of the national ID system.

“Yung National ID lagi naming pinaguusapan yan but obviously, the challenge now is how do you implement it under these circumstances?” Nograles said Wednesday in a virtual briefing.

(We always talk about the national ID but obviously, the challenge is how do you implement it under these circumstances?)

“It would have been very helpful, to say the least,” he added.

Sotto earlier said the national ID system would solve the discrepancies between the national government and the local government units’ (LGUs) databases for the social amelioration program.

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has agreed to the suggestion, saying its implementation should be hastened “not only because of the COVID-19 but for a lot of many good reasons that will benefit the country.”

Several local officials earlier took to social media to lament the “quota system” supposedly being imposed in the distribution of the social amelioration funds for low-income households.

Under the recently passed Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, some 18 million poor families will be given an emergency cash subsidy, ranging from P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months depending on the wage rates in their region.

This aims to help low-income families cope with the effects of the government’s measures against COVID-19 that has so far infected 3,764 individuals nationwide.

/MUF