National ID Pilot Tests to Start in September

The National ID system has been long proposed as a means of making government and private transactions easier.
By the end of President Duterte’s term on 2022, the National ID should be able to cover 107 million Filipino citizens.
There will be a pilot test of this new National ID system starting September 2019 and will end December 2019.

Manila, Philippines — Plans to use a National ID through the Philippine Identification System Act (Republic Act No. 11055) is now continuing this time with a pilot test period just announced.

From a news report by CNN Philippines, in an announcement made last Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said, “There will be a pilot testing which will run from September to December 2019 to register a substantial number of Filipinos nationwide.” He also cited Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia and national statistician Dennis Mapa, who was just recently appointed, during this announcement.

National ID pilot test to start on September 2019 — A sample image of the PhilSys ID. Image Credit: Wikipedia

“By the end of the President’s term in 2022, 107 million Filipinos are targeted to be registered,” Panelo also added.

The PhilSys Act is meant to provide Filipinos and resident aliens an easier way to provide an identification. Under the PhilSys Act, registration will be compulsory and with the PhilSys ID one will be issued a permanent identification number called the PhilSys Number.

August 6, 2018, is when President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Philippine Identification System Act (Republic Act No. 11055).

Criticism on the PhilSys ID has risen with the concern that the citizens’ privacy might be affected by this while Senator Lacson, who is the author of the act, stated that the data contained in the ID are information that is already held by most government agencies.

The PhilSys ID will have ten pieces of information, including the bearer’s full name, gender, date of birth, address, blood type, and whether they are a Filipino or someone from a different country. Marital status, phone numbers, and email address will be optional to add in the ID.