PSA: Over 1M Pinoys already listed for national ID

MANILA, Philippines — After hitting a snag when online registration for the national ID was launched before last month ended, an improved portal has allowed over 1 million Filipinos to complete the first step, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the PSA said 1,052,861 online registrants finished Step 1—collection of demographic data, such as full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type, permanent and present address, as well as citizenship—as of May 17.

“This is yet another milestone in implementing this national priority program that will usher our country to a digital society. We are grateful for the patience and trust of Filipinos who registered, even though we encountered technical difficulties when we started the pilot. With the support of our citizens, we remain optimistic that we can register 50 million-70 million Filipinos to the PhilSys [Philippine Identification System] this year,” national statistician Dennis Mapa said.

Including those who underwent physical Step 1 registration since late last year, about 34 million Filipinos already completed the first of three steps toward obtaining a Philippine ID (PhilID).

The registration process for PhilSys was spread out across three steps to ensure social distancing while observing minimum health and safety protocols against COVID-19.

The first registration step was conducted house-to-house starting October last year in 32 pilot provinces where there were fewer COVID-19 infections yet poorer households.

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

103,935 PhilIDs delivered

Since early this year, the PSA expanded Step 1 to Metro Manila and other provinces, as well as offered online registration while proceeding with Step 2 — collection of biometrics information composed of a front-facing photograph, fingerprints and iris scan, plus validation — among those who have finished the first step.

The third and final step, which started this month, involved the issuance of the card containing the unique, 12-digit PhilSys number (PSN), which the PSA described as a “randomly generated number that will serve as a permanent identification number for the registrants, which must be kept private and confidential.”

As of May 15, 103,935 PhilIDs were already delivered to registrants who finished the first two steps nationwide, the PSA said in a separate statement.

Mapa urged other government agencies, as well as private establishments, “to recognize and acknowledge the PhilID as valid proof of identity in various transactions in accordance with Section 12 of Republic Act No. 11055 or the PhilSys Act.”