Benefits of National ID
Editorial

Benefits of National ID

Sep 6, 2021, 5:17 AM
OpinYon Editorial

OpinYon Editorial

Writer

A REPORT from the Land Bank of the Philippines said some 4.5 million Filipinos were able to open a bank account for the first time with the continued rollout of the national ID aimed at addressing financial inclusion, especially among the country’s low-income households.

The Land Bank reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that 4.47 million Filipinos managed to be included in the formal banking system as of the first semester.

Of this number, 27 percent or 1.23 million were able to access online digital payments and other transactions, mostly in the Visayas and Central Luzon.

The inclusion and participation in the banking system of many Filipinos from the rural and depressed areas is a welcome development. It bodes well with the nation's objective of having a financially inclusive population, of sharing the benefits of progress with all Filipinos.

And yet the Left, particularly the so-called Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, has been shooting down the concept of a National Idenfication (ID) System may be because it poses a hindrance to the incognito character of the insurgency. Rebels and insurgents, of course, do not want the public or the government to know who they are.

The rollout of subsidies under Bayanihan One could have been made seamless and quick had we finished the National ID System on time. It was rumored that then Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia was pressured to resign or was fired for failing to deliver on the targets set for the National ID System.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) noted that there was a lack of a centralized means of distributing cash transfers, and about 80% of beneficiaries have no bank account because they do not have IDs.

It is good that this problem is now being addressed by the government.#


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