PSA: National ID pre-registration for low-income household heads to begin October 12

MANILA, Philippines — The first phase of mass registration for the National ID System is set to begin on October 12, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.

PSA Assistant Secretary Rosalinda Bautista told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo that Step 1 of registration involves going from house-to-house of selected pre-registrants to get their information and to schedule a date for them to visit the registration center.

Bautista said these selected pre-registrants are the heads of 5 million low-income households, identified through data provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. She added that pre-registering these individuals will cut down their waiting time when they go to registration centers for Step 2 of the registration process.

Enacted in 2019, Republic Act No. 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act provides the legal basis for the national ID program, a key social project of the Duterte administration which aims to provide government with more accurate information on its citizens to better target public projects.

According to the PSA official, the National ID System is expected to speed up transactions in both the public and private sector, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.

"Why are we giving low income [household heads] priority? Because, chances are, they do not have bank accounts yet. What the government wants, hopefully, is that when aid is given, it passes through a bank account so that the distribution of financial aid is quickly processed," Bautista said in Filipino.

The same pre-registrants will undergo Step 2 on November 25 for their biometric capture, Bautista said. She added that PSA is coordinating with local government units to ensure that registration centers are close to areas with high concentrations of low-income families.

The assistant secretary also clarified that there will be no fees for both the registration process and the ID issued. 

PSA: Most Filipinos will be registered for National IDs by 2022

"In addition to the 5 million household heads, we will also schedule a member of the family which will reach close to 4 million," Bautista said in Filipino and English, outlining the agency's goals for 2020.

This means that, for the remainder of the year, PSA is planning to pre-register a total of 9 million people — 5 million of whom will also have their biometrics captured before the year is out. 

"In 2021, we will register 45 million and in 2022, another 42 million. So by the end of the term of President Duterte, we should have already registered majority of the Philippines," the PSA official said in Filipino.  — Bella Perez-Rubio