ARTA, other gov’t agencies working on improving data-matching practices

INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Government agencies will team up with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data-matching system to boost the data-sharing practice among public offices, the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said on Tuesday.

ARTA said the initiative to speed up the data-sharing process will allow faster document processing among the government agencies. 

“Isa po sa cornerstone ng streamlining initiative ng kahit anong pamahalaan na nagpapabilis ng kanilang pagproseso ay ang pagbibigay ng datos sa pamahalaan sa pagproseso ng kanilang mga dokumento at pagbibigay ng datos sa kanilang karatig na ahensya,” ARTA Secretary Jeremiah Belgica said in a statement. 

(One of the cornerstones of the streamlining initiative of any agency in speeding up the process is to give data to agencies for processing documents and passing data to involved agencies.)

ARTA earlier requested a meeting with the PSA to discuss sharing of data on birth, death, and marriage, among others, to relevant government agencies.

Belgica added that the agency will form a small working group with PSA, the National Privacy Commission (NPC), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to focus on improving the data-matching scheme.

Marizza Grande of the PSA Civil Register Maintenance and Development Division (CRMDD) said PSA already has existing agreements with other agencies and a data matching scheme where concerned agencies can check the records they need.

The PSA also provides monthly updates to the said concerned agencies.

NPC Chairman Raymund Liboro recommended the drafting of a Data-Sharing Agreement and Model Contract Laws.

The agreement will state liabilities and responsibilities of agencies sharing data and will also “enable a single sign-on of data from the public.”

National ID

Belgica also suggested the sharing of data collected through the National ID System.

Data needed for a National ID includes full name, gender, date and place of birth, blood type, address and optional information like marital status, mobile number, and email address.

Biometric information including fingerprint, iris scan, and photograph will also be needed for the ID.

“Having a single repository of these confidential info or personal info about you will hasten e-security,” said Belgica.

The PSA aims to register 70 million individuals in the PhilSys by the end of the year. 

READ: 17.4M Filipinos register for National ID system in Q1, says PSA exec   — Faith Yuen Wei Ragasa, Inquirer trainee

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