The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Region 11 (Davao Region) is bent on increasing the National ID registration turnout in this city to make up for the almost five months of stoppage since May due to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) quarantine restrictions.
Adeline Batucan, senior statistical specialist of the PSA-11 regional office, in an interview with One Davao on Covid-19 virtual presser on Friday (October 29) said that aside from opening PhilSys registration sites inside shopping malls here, PSA-PhilSys Davao has also started conducting institutional registration in some offices.
For this month, PSA-11 held institutional registration at the regional offices of the National Bureau of Investigation, Civil Service Commission, Damosa Land, Inc., and Department of Labor and Employment.
“And we will schedule more mobile registration in other offices in the following months, to increase the Step 2 registration in the city,” Batucan said.
The PSA has embarked on institutional registration nationwide as a strategy to help increase the PhilSys registration turnout. The agency is targeting to register at least 70 million Filipinos by end of 2022.
The PSA-11 sees the mall-based registration as an effective strategy to achieve rapid growth in the number of PhilSys registrants, Argel Ryan Jayo, an information statistical analyst at the PSA-11, said.
In the same virtual presser, Jayo reported that around 27,830 individuals have registered with PhilSys in Davao City’s malls as of October. Registration in the city resumed on October 4 after being suspended in May. Currently, there are nine malls in the city serving as PhilSys registration venues.
Jayo said the PSA-11 is planning to open registration in more malls or establishments in the city to speed up the increase in the number of registrants.
“We hope more malls will sign up as PhilSys registration hub,” Jayo said.
Signed into law by President Rodrigo R. 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, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.
It also seeks to boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions. (PNA)
