Sotto, Lacson call for probe into nat’l ID system non-implementation

MANILA, Philippines — Two senators are filing a resolution calling for an inquiry on the status of the national ID system after its delayed implementation was blamed for the slow-paced distribution of the COVID-19 cash aid for some 18 million low-income families.

Under Senate Resolution No. 352, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson are seeking an inquiry on the status of the implementation of Republic Act Number 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, “with the end view of ensuring its prompt and full-scale implementation to achieve its intended purpose.

This law was enacted in 2018.

Prior to its approval, a P2 billion budget was already allocated for the national ID system under the 2018 budget of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the lead implementing agency of the program, the resolution noted.

The entire budget for the program amounts to P25 billion, it added.

“From 2018 to 2020 General Appropriations Act, a budget of Php 2 Billion has been allotted for the National ID System every year – totaling to only Php 6,096,329,000 budget allocation for three (3) years,” the resolution read.

But almost two years from its enactment into law and the approval of its implementing rules and regulation, the two senators pointed out that “there seems to be no significant headway on its implementation.”

“It was only on 02 September 2019 – a year after the supposed implementation that the first pilot testing for the national identification program was conducted by the PSA” the resolution said.

“Based on the article published by the PSA on 02 September 2019, entitled ‘Philippine ID System on Track for Registering Population by Mid-2020,’ it was only on even date that the national ID program commenced its testing covering a small number of individuals from the National Capital Region,” it added.

Sotto had earlier called for a “full blown execution” of the system, saying it would address the discrepancies between the databases of the national government and the local government units (LGUs) with regards to the list of beneficiaries for the COVID-19 emergency subsidy program.

President Rodrigo Duterte himself also admitted that the national ID system could have sped up the delivery of the government’s emergency subsidy program.

This, as he took note of delays faced by the government’s two-month social amelioration program for low-income families due to discrepancies in the lists of beneficiaries of the national government and the local government units, among other issues.

Sotto and Lacson’s resolution said the national ID system “would not only aid in the efficient distribution of the social amelioration program currently being implemented by different government agencies but would also help our law enforcement agencies in fighting crimes and facilitate key government services and transactions, among others.”

EDV