MANILA, Philippines — Is your national ID photo unflattering? Or your name misspelled? Don’t fret, that can be changed.
National ID implementer Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is planning to accommodate requests by registrants who wish to have their IDs changed by the fourth quarter of this year.
National statistician Dennis Mapa said the PSA has received feedback from those who already received their IDs.
“Yes, they can have it changed. We will open it later on but right now we are prioritizing those that have already registered,” Mapa told reporters on the sidelines of the labor force survey briefing on Friday.
“Eventually, once production is better, we will accommodate because there are some corrections,” he said.
Just this week, the national ID trended on social media following an unflattering ID photo where the registrant’s eyes were closed.
Mapa said the PSA has so far received 100 complaints regarding photos on national ID cards. But he maintained that this is a “very, very small number” as compared to those cards received with no issue.
To date, the PSA has registered 67 million individuals. Of this number, 14.3 million have been printed and 12.3 million were already delivered nationwide.
Apart from ID photos, other concerns include incorrect or missing names or those who got married and would want to change their family names.
While registrants were asked to verify their demographic information during registration, Mapa admitted that there were also minimal errors on the side of their encoders.
“The reason why we are not yet opening this up is because we want to release most of the IDs of the 67 million,” Mapa said.?Printing for the national ID reaches around 80,000 to 90,000 cards per day. It was in May last year when the PSA started delivery of the ID cards.
“But this year, we are targeting around the fourth quarter for the corrections, additions or change of family names,” he said.
However, changing your national ID may come with a price of P135.
“The P135 fee for replacement is a proposal, and the PSA will conduct stakeholders meetings on this matter as part of the process,” Mapa said.
Meanwhile, the PSA chief noted that the agency targets to open the national ID registration to children below five years old by next year.
The national ID aims to promote and improve the seamless delivery of public and social services, enhance administrative governance, reduce corruption, strengthen financial inclusion and promote ease of doing business.