The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for the production of the blank cards to be used for the IDs under the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
The Agreement
According to a recent press release, the central bank shall produce 116 million pieces of cards over a period of three years for “Phil IDs” under the MOA.
The Phil IDs are non-transferable cards to be issued to all Philippine citizens or resident aliens registered under the PhilSys.
The PSA, on the other hand, holds roles and responsibilities under the MOA, which include the following:
- Managing the PhilSys database
- Ensuring the availability, confidentiality, integrity, accuracy, and readiness of the data that will be placed in BSP-produced blank cards
- Undertaking the personalisation, quality checking and distribution of the Phil IDs
Republic Act No. 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act mandates the establishment of the Philippine Identification System for all citizens and resident aliens of the country.
PSA is the primary implementing agency to carry out the provisions of this law.
Pilot-testing and Rollout
- As reported, authorities are pilot-testing the implementation of the national ID until May or June 2020.
- Once the system is efficient and running without a problem, rollout will start by July. Initial target is about 14 to 15 million.
- By 2021, they will escalate rollout to about 50 million while the rest will come by 2022.
- According to BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno, the government-to-government agreement is better than tapping the private sector in order to prevent issues that usually arise when losing bidders question the decision of the bids and account committee.
Benefits of the National ID
- The National ID will be beneficial to all Filipinos, particularly the unbanked Filipinos who are hindered from being enrolled in the formal banking sector due to lack of the required identification cards, which are usually two government-issued IDs.
- Having a Phil ID will provide unbanked Filipinos with a proof of identity, which is a key requirement in accessing formal financial services.
- This will, therefore, enable more underprivileged countrymen to enjoy gains from and participate more actively in the country’s growing economy.
- The central bank chief described the BSP-PSA partnership for this ID system as a trailblazing field for both institutions.
- He added that the program has about PHP 30 billion (US$ 578.9 million) in total cost. However, the cost of production for this foundational ID will be about PHP 3.4 billion (US$ 65.6 million) or around PHP 30 (US$ 0.58) per card.
- OpenGov Asia earlier reported on Filipinos being reassured of National ID security.
- There are enough safeguards in the law to protect the privacy of the Filipinos, underscoring that the law’s main objective is to enhance the delivery of the basic services.