Nat’l ID system gaining support

Support is growing for the implementation of a national identification (ID) card system even as presidential aspirant Raul Roco branded it a "threat to civil liberties."

Department of Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida yesterday said the DOJ is supportive of the proposed national ID system since it will help track down criminals and provide people with the convenience of having all pertinent personal information ready in one ID card.

"Naturally, those who are fugitives from justice, the criminals hiding in the mountains, they cannot transact business and assume other identities because they don’t have this national ID," Calida said. "In short, the only ones who fear or those who are apprehensive about this are the bad guys."

Calida said the DOJ fully supports President Arroyo’s proposal that Congress approve the bill creating a national ID system.

"I don’t think it will infringe upon people’s civil liberties because the national ID cards will contain only basic information about the person, like the name, citizenship, (civil) status, address, occupation, date of birth, place of birth — the normal particulars which are asked for in any ID cards," he said.

Instead of having to carry several ID cards, Calida said, individuals will have the convenience of carrying only one valid ID to prove their identity.

"This will be helpful because... the law states that if you open a bank account, you are required to present a valid ID," he said. "Sometimes, the applicants are required to (present) two or three IDs, but if you have a tamper-proof national ID, then all you need to present is that one and the banks will accept your identity."

Calida said a great segment of the population does not have ID cards because not everyone is employed or drives cars or has memberships in organizations that issue IDs.

He said local officials can help the government implement a national ID system by starting a similar system within their areas of jurisdiction.

Calida also dismissed allegations that the system could be used to crack down on members of the opposition and their supporters.

Roco, however, said the proposed national ID system is a "quick fix" that will not deter terrorists and criminals, but would "pose a threat to the rights, freedoms and equality of Filipinos."

"Terrorists, criminals and the Jose Pidals of this world will always be able to obtain - by legal or illegal means - the documents needed to get a government ID," Roco said.

The national ID system could also create a false sense of security, because terrorists and criminals who are able to acquire such an ID can avoid heightened security measures.

"A national ID would depend on a massive bureaucracy that would limit our basic freedoms," he said. "One bureaucratic mistake could take away an individual’s ability to move freely from place to place or make them unemployed until the government ‘fixed’ their file."

He added that requiring Filipinos to carry an ID all the time is tantamount to compromising their privacy and exposing them to new forms of harassment.

Such a system could also "engender massive corruption, since it could run into billions of pesos in business for the favored contractors."

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the President has asked Congress to authorize a national ID system to help the government combat terrorism and fraud.

Golez said the administration’s allies in Congress have tabled a number of bills for a proposed ID system, including one based on identity-checks used for the state run Social Security System (SSS).

Golez said concerns over the proposed system’s threat to civil liberties or possible use as a tool of oppression are "overblown."

The business community also gave its full backing to the immediate implementation of the proposed national ID system, Employers Confederation of the Philippines president Donald Dee said.

The business sector, he said, has no reason to oppose the proposed national ID system

Dee said, "in other countries, the ID system helps protect the lives of citizens, so why should it be any different here?"

The implementation of the national ID system would facilitate government transaction and improve our deteriorating peace and order situation, he added.

Militant labor groups, however, strongly objected to the proposed national ID system, saying it could be abused by the President.

Sanlakas party-list Rep. J.V. Bautista asked his fellow lawmakers not to squander the remaining session days of Congress by deliberating on the national ID system bill. — With Mayen Jaymalin, Sheila Crisostomo, AFP