BANGUED, Abra — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is preparing the public for the start of mass registration on the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) by July 2020.
As part of its preparation, PSA is conducting a nationwide information dissemination campaign about the PhilSys.
The PSA provincial office here recently organized an orientation on the national ID system with Asec Lourdines C. Dela Cruz, Deputy National Statistician for PhilSys Registry Office.
Dela Cruz discussed the salient features of Republic Act 11055, also known as the “Philippine Identification System Act” with the heads of national line agencies and local civil registrars of the province.
He explained that the law which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 5, 2018 aims to establish a single national identification (ID) system to provide a valid proof of identity of all Filipino citizens.
“The National ID system also eliminates the need to present many forms of identification when transacting with the government and private sectors,” he added.
Dela Cruz stressed that the national ID contains only demographic and biometric data.
For the demographic data, it only needs full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type, address, citizenship while the marital status, mobile number and email address are optional to be added.
The biometric data only requires front facing photograph, fingerprints and iris scan.
He also explained that upon the enrolment of an individual for the national ID, a randomly-generated, unique, non-transferable and permanent ID number will be assigned.
On the concerns about privacy breach, risk of identity theft or fraud, surveillance on the history of transactions and others, Dela Cruz assured that the PhilSys is a privacy-by-design which is invulnerable to hacking and no one can penetrate the system.
“Right before the start of registration, we will be inviting hackers, computer engineers and expert computer technicians around the globe and we will challenge them to hack our system for P1 million if they can,” he stated.
Dela Cruz said they are in close coordination with the Department of Information and Communication Technology and the National Privacy Commission for the smooth implementation of PhilSys.
The PSA started the pilot testing of the PhilSys last Sept. 2 and targets to start the mass registration by mid 2020. **JDP/CAGT – PIA CAR, Abra
