PSA: Data protection, security measures put in place for nat’l ID system

MANILA, Philippines – The national ID or the Philippine Identification System ID (PhilSys ID) cannot be falsified as each individual will have their permanent PhilSys serial number, which cannot be changed nor transferred even after death, an official of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) claimed on Friday.

PSA Deputy National Statistician Assistant Secretary Rosalinda Bautista said that aside from the PhilSys number, biometrics would also be needed to confirm the identification.

“Dapat po ingatan natin ‘yung PhilSys number na [which] is permanent issued to a person, hindi po napapalitan ‘yun ‘yung number na ‘yun at hindi po siya maibibigay or kahit na kanino even after death,” she said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.

(Filipino citizens should take care of their PhilSys number because it is permanently issued to a person, it cannot be changed or transferred even after death.)

“Yes po, kasi gagamitin mo po ‘yung PhilSys number mo plus either biometric or informed biometric for authentication,” she said when asked if the national ID cannot be faked.

(Yes, PhilSys number will be used plus either biometric or informed biometric for authentication.)

According to Bautista, the PhilSys number would be micro-printed on the card with only the “tokenized” number shown.

She also reminded Filipinos that they would receive the ID with a letter indicating their PhilSys ID number.

PSA also aims to register 70 million Filipinos by the end of 2021. Filipinos nationwide can already register to have their national ID.

As many as 32 provinces completed the first stage of the registration process in October 2020. Phase one of registration is the compilation of demographic data.

Residents of these 32 provinces can already process step 2 of registration that involves supporting documents and capturing biometric information. As of February 27, more than 162,000 are already in step two, according to Bautista.

President Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Budget and Management Secretary Wendel Avisado were prioritized to be registered in the national ID system as per their request to PSA in February.

Liezelle Soriano Roy, trainee

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