MANILA, Philippines — The pre-registration for the national ID will begin next month for easier distribution of government assistance, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Tuesday.
“In our last Philsys meeting, it was mentioned we will proceed to roll out of our pre-registration this first week of October. Tuloy tuloy na ito until we are able to initially register to 5 million pre-registrants and 5 million registrants at the end of the year,” DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in an online #AskNEDA briefing when sought for comment about the national ID system pre-registration.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys Act), or Republic Act No. 11055, in August 2018. The PhilSys Act aims to harmonize and integrate several government IDs by putting up a single national identification system.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon explained that pre-registration means they will be gathering the applicant’s information on social demographics.
“What we will be doing is pre-registration. Hindi pa yung registration. So ano yung pre-registration? What we will be doing is just collecting information on social demographics so wala munang pagkuha ng fingerprints or iris scan because collecting these biometric information will mean individuals will go to testing centers so delikado magkakaroon ng congregation,” she said during the same press conference.
Edillon said the pre-registration will be conducted in 32 provinces with a low incidence of active COVID-19 cases to make sure that the infection will not worsen.
“With respect to 32 provinces, we are looking at those with low incidence or low number of active cases of COVID-19 because we want this initiative to be safe for the public for those who want people to register for PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) personnel,” she said.
Malaya identified the 32 provinces as:
Ilocos Sur
La Union
Pangasinan
Cagayan
Isabela
Bataan
Bulacan
Nueva Ecija
Pampanga
Tarlac
Zambales
Batangas
Cavite
Laguna
Quezon
Rizal
Albay,
Camarines Sur
Masbate
Antique
Capiz
Iloilo
Negros Occidental
Bohol
Cebu
Negros Oriental
Leyte
Compostela Valley
Davao del Norte
Davao del Sur
Davao Occidental
Tawi tawi