MANILA – The government has so far completed the printing of over 60 percent of the physical copies of the national identification cards (IDs), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing on Friday, Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Registry Office Deputy National Statistician Fred Sollesta said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has so far printed 54 million physical national ID cards.
Of the total, 50 million were already delivered by the Philippine Post Office (PhilPost).
“Iyong printing natin sa physical card ay nasa BSP iyon, so tuluy-tuloy naman iyong printing natin. Iyon lang, iyong capacity natin to print ay nasa 80,000 per day ‘no. And when we started the registration in 2021, napakataas ng ating turnout sa registration, umaabot siya ng 300 to 400,000 per day (The printing of the physical card is in BSP so the printing is continuous. Our capacity to print, however, is around 80,000 per day. And when we started the registration in 2021, our turnout in the registration was very high, reaching 300 to 400,000 per day),” Sollesta said.
“So nakaabot tayo ng 53 million registration in 2021 alone, so nagkaroon lang tayo ng bottleneck. Pero it was expected na with the rate na iyong printing natin, matapos natin ito maybe this year sa 2024 (So we reached 53 million registrations in 2021 alone, so we just had a bottleneck. But it was expected that with the rate that we are printing, we will finish it maybe this year 2024),” he said.
Sollesta said that to date, total registrations for the PhilSys has already reached 85 million.
“Sa registration natin, umabot na tayo ng 85 million. And then iyong na-deliver na natin na cards na galing sa BSP, iyong physical card ay 50 million. And then noong nag-start tayo noong ePhilID to supplement the delivery of the physical card, umabot na tayo ng mga 45 million and then may a couple of millions doon sa collaboration ng PSA and DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) na digital ID (For the registration, we have reached 85 million. And then the cards that we have already delivered from the BSP, the physical card is 50 million. And then when we started with ePhilID to supplement the delivery of the physical card, we reached about 45 million and then there are a couple of millions there with the collaboration of PSA and DICT which is digital ID),” he said.
Sollesta said registration for the PhilSys still continues.
“So, para ating kababayan na mga hindi pa nagpapa-register ano, hinihikayat namin kayo na magtungo sa alinmang registration center na malapit sa inyong lugar and magdala kayo ng mga supporting documents ‘no, of course isa diyan iyong mga birth certificate, iyong mga other IDs na may photo (So, to our countrymen who have not yet registered, we encourage you to go to any registration center near your area and bring supporting documents, of course one of them is your birth certificate, the others IDs with photo),” he added.
Sollesta said there are currently 86 registration centers nationwide, excluding those located inside malls.
Established in 2018, the national ID or the Philippine Identification System is the country’s foundational identification system which aims to provide valid proof of identity to all Filipinos with the PhilID and ePhilID.
It aims to provide a valid proof of identity to registered persons, including the PhilSys Number or the 12-digit permanent identification number, and the PhilID or the non-transferrable physical ID card.
The PSA earlier said the valid proof of identity provided by PhilSys is a means of simplifying public and private transactions, and is a social and economic platform that promotes seamless social service delivery and strengthens financial inclusion for both public and private services. (PNA/ ANNA LEAH GONZALES)