The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) remains firm to register at least 70 million Filipinos for Step 1 and 50 million for Step 2 process of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) project by the end of 2021, Assistant Secretary Rosalinda Bautista said Wednesday.
In a virtual interview, Bautista reported over 42 million Filipinos nationwide have signed up to the initial phase of PhilSys registration as of Sept. 10.
She said over 30 million have completed the Step 2 registration process, or the face-to-face biometrics capture.
The Philippine Postal Corporation, the PSA’s official courier partner, has already delivered over 1.7 million PhilID cards nationwide.
Bautista said the Step 1 process was launched through a house-to-house registration of targeted low-income Filipinos in 664 cities and municipalities in 32 provinces identified as “low-risk” areas for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The PSA also opened an online portal for the general public to sign up in PhilSys Step 1 of the registration involving the collection of the registrant’s information, including full name, gender, date, place of birth, blood type, and address.
Financial inclusion
Bautista said one of the objectives of the PhilSys project is to provide financial inclusion to all Filipinos.
In partnership with the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), Bautista said unbanked registrants can open their bank accounts.
She said registrants who wish to acquire their own bank accounts may transact directly to the Landbank personnel stationed at the PhilSys registration sites.
“This is part of our goals to provide financial inclusion through PhilSys,” she added.
Bautista also reported more than five million individuals opened their own bank accounts with the Landbank.
She reiterated that registration for PhilSys is free of charge.
Registrants could acquire bank accounts with no initial deposit requirement through Landbank account opening booths at designated co-location areas.
Signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.
The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrolment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.
It will also boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present the PhilID during transactions. (PNA)
