Palace vows support for national ID system

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is ready to support the rollout of the national identification program once approved by Congress, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said yesterday.

“This landmark bill is part of the legislative priority agenda of the Duterte administration to improve the delivery of government services; thus, once ratified, the President will sign this into law,” Roque said.

The Senate and the House of Representatives are expected to ratify the bicameral conference committee report anytime and have the reconciled measure sent to President Duterte for signature.

The bicam report was approved last Tuesday.

The national ID will have bear the person’s PhilSys Number, full name, sex, blood type, date and place of birth, address, marital status and photograph. It will also capture biometric data, a full set of fingerprints and iris scan.

The government has allotted P2 billion for the first phase of the implementation of the project. The system will be rolled out in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog and Cordillera Administrative Region.

Officials said the initial rollout of the program this year will cover about one million cardholders. 

The total cost for the full rollout, which will begin next year and may take as long as five years, will reach P30 billion.