1M Pinoys apply for PhilSys ID

More than a million Filipinos have applied for a national identification card in the first eight days of registration despite fears that the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) may be used to suppress civil liberties or violate privacy laws.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said in a report that the first step in the registration process generated a total of 1,058,546 registrations as of Oct. 20, exceeding the original one-week target of 711,533 by 148.8 percent.

The first step of registration for PhilSys—ongoing from Oct. 12 to Dec. 30 this year—involved collecting demographic data and then scheduling an appointment for the capture of biometric information.

The demographic information being collected at the moment include full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type, permanent and present address and citizenship (Filipino or resident alien).

9M target

The government plans to get the personal data of 9 million Filipinos—5 million household heads and other adult household members—in 32 provinces where 40 percent of the country’s poorest families live but had low COVID-19 infections.

The government prioritized heads of poor families so that their national IDs would later on serve as a valid proof of identity whenever there’s a need to distribute social assistance.

The 32 provinces are Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, Tarlac, Bulacan, Bataan, Cavite, Batangas, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Albay, Masbate, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Compostela Valley, and Tawi-Tawi.

According to Chua’s report, 28 of these 32 provinces were “on track for registration.”

As such, the registrations as of Oct. 20 accounted for 10.7 percent of the total target during the three-month registration period.

Among those already registered, 89.5 percent had mobile numbers, while 87.5 percent were unbanked, Chua’s report read.

To date, the bigger share or 572,977 of those registered were males; while in terms of age, the bracket of Filipinos aged between 20 and 39 cornered the largest number of ID-registered individuals with 420,264.