PSA didn’t expect the high volume of registrants which caused the delayed printing of the physical national IDs
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) pointed to the high number of registrants for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) as the cause of delay in the printing of national ID cards..
PSA chief Dennis Mapa said they didn’t expect the high registration volume, which is why the delay.
As of October 17, around 74.28 million Filipinos have registered in the PhilSys or had begun the process of submitting demographic and biometric information. This represents 98.7 percent of the population aged 15 years and above, and also 80 percent of target registrants for 2022, GMA News reported.
Of the total, 51.23 percent have already undertaken backend identity verification "to determine if the person enrolling is unique."
PSA was able to issue a unique 12-digit PhilSys number to over 45 million registrants out of 51 million who have already undergone the backend verification process. It was also able to dispatch to the Philippine Post Office (PhilPost) a total of 22.55 million PhilID cards.
Meanwhile, PhilPost has delivered about 17.6 million PhilID cards as of October 14.
Mapa said that "we have a backlog of roughly 29 million" because of the over 74 million registrants and more than 45 million generated PhilSys numbers.
“The exceptional pace of meeting the registration target created a substantial gap among the accomplishment rates of the registration which is moving very fast, the backend identity verification, and subsequently the delivery of the PhilIDs,” He added.
Information and Communications Undersecretary Dennis Villorente said that the backlog can be addressed in four months.
While registrants wait for their physical national IDs, Mapa confirmed that the PSA introduced the digital version of the PhilSys, or ePhilID, which can be printed at PSA registration centers, as a "proactive strategy that will allow more Filipinos to immediately enjoy the benefits of being PhilSys registered."
“The issuance of printed ePhilID is to complement the delivery of the physical cards from the printing facilities of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) so that the registered person can immediately utilize the benefits of the PhilSys such as faster and seamless transaction in accessing financial and social protection services requiring proof of identity subject to authentication,” Mapa said.
The ePhilID is also in accordance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s mandate to issue 50 million IDs by the end of the year, 30 million of which will be physical cards and 20 million digital printed copies.
So far, PSA has pre-generated close to two million ePhilIDs for claiming as of October 20.
“We will provide a mobile app version so you can carry your ePhilID without bringing a printed version,” Villorente added.
Delay is “unacceptable”
However, House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera filed a resolution seeking a probe into the printing and distribution of the national ID.
She said that the delayed printing was “unacceptable” as she criticized the ePhilIDs.
“Open naman ang PSA sa kahit anong inquiry na ating legislators,” Mapa commented.
In a partnership with BSP, PSA is planning to add two more lines in the printing facilities which would increase its printing capacity of national ID cards from 80,000 per day to 130,000 per day.
Tags: #PSA, #PhilSys,#NationalID, #Digital, #BSP