The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Dumaguete City has successfully registered over 1.2 million individuals in the province for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Identification.
This represents 85.68 percent of the province’s population as of June 2024.
“We reached more than 100 percent of our target. However, many individuals aged five years and above have yet to register for the national ID due to various difficulties, although parents are being encouraged to register their children,” said Felida Generoso, supervising statistical specialist of PSA.
The 2020 Census of Population and Housing shows that 11,716 children aged zero to four years old have been registered, significantly short of the target number of 144,362.
The PSA has been coordinating with daycare centers, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Civil Registry System outlets, and schools to achieve its 100 percent goal.
Generoso said mobile registration or PhilSys On-Wheels continues to reach unregistered individuals across the province to sitios or hinterland barangays.
This is also to track down those national IDs which have not been delivered yet and increase the number of PhilSys registration.
“The best practices that we are doing is we coordinate or co-locate also city and municipal links during the FDS or family development session so we can identify the beneficiaries that we can provide assistance, and at the same time, we can authenticate their national IDs,” said PSA provincial head Engineer Ariel Fortuito.
As of May 2024, Step 2 registration process has listed 1,218,189 individuals’ biometric data and verifying their demographic information at local registration centers, said Fortuito.
Some 107,382 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries’ IDs have been authenticated or validated online and were issued to DSWD.
Under the law, the national ID is recognized as the primary government ID.
“Almost all establishments and agencies were informed that the primary ID that they ask should be the national IDs,” said Fortuito.
He added that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has advised its banks to require PhilSys ID from their clients.
Currently, PSA is issuing printable national IDs for temporary use while waiting for the physical IDs.
To verify the validity of a PhilSys ID, individuals can download the PhilSys Check app and scan the QR code, which will display the owner’s biometrics on the screen.
Generoso said that under the law, any establishment refusing to accept the PhilSys ID as valid identification will face penalties ranging from half a million to P1 million. (PIA-7 Negros Oriental)