Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 10) – National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Chief Karl Chua told a Senate budget hearing Wednesday that he expects the pre-registration for the national ID system to start mid-October this year.
“Our backup plan right now is by the middle of October we will begin pre-registration wherein officials of the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) will be visiting the targeted poor households and begin collecting the non-biometric information like the name, address and so on,” Chua told senators.
President Rodrigo Duterte stated in his message for the proposed 2021 National Budget that the government has allocated around ₱4.1 billion to hasten the implementation of the national ID system.
Chua added physical IDs, procured by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, may be released in November or December this year.
“The most important is the foundational ID number, the physical ID eventually, I think, will have to evolve. But initially, by law, we will provide the physical ID,” the NEDA chief assured.
The national ID will contain the Philippine Identification System number, full name, facial image, sex, date of birth, blood type, and address of the person.
The NEDA head also told senators their initial target of five million Filipinos to be registered in the national ID system this year will not be met due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Chua remained confident that around 40 million Filipinos will be registered under the national ID system next year. However, he said those below five years old will not be registered because their biometrics may still change and newborn will only be given identification numbers.
Duterte signed the Philippine Identification System Act into law in August 2018, which aims to create a single official ID card for all citizens that integrates and interconnects various government-issued IDs.
