National ID system: 5 million registrants eyed this year

MANILA, Philippines — The government is eyeing the registration of the heads of five million low-income families for the national ID system by December to ensure a more efficient distribution of relief assistance in the future.

In his eighth report to Congress on the government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic, President Duterte said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is fasttracking the implementation of the national ID system to improve targeting and distribution of financial aid to poor and low-income households.

Duterte said the PSA aims to open the registration process in October with 6,500 registration kits in 46 permanent registration centers and 1,170 mobile registration centers nationwide.

The PSA is coordinating with the Land Bank of the Philippines for the use of the bank’s 126 branches as registration centers.

Duterte had earlier said the implementation of the national ID system could have facilitated the distribution of assistance to those affected by the community quarantine due to COVID-19.

The President said the Philippine Institute for Development Studies is  also working on the implementing rules of the Community-Based Monitoring System Act.

“The accelerated nationwide implementation of a community-based monitoring system shall allow the government to profile and identify households vulnerable to certain risks as well as qualified beneficiaries of targeted programs,” Duterte said.