There are approximately 89.7 million registrations registered for the Philippine IdentifiCation System (PhilSys) card, or the National Identity Card, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Monday.
The registrations represent 97% of the government’s target of 90 million for this year, Assistant National Statistician Emily R. Pagador told reporters on the sidelines of a forum.
By next year, the PSA wants to have the entire population registered, Ms. Pagador said.
Although the PSA has yet to provide 35 million physical national ID cards, those registered under PhilSys can use the digital version of the ID cards in government and banking transactions.
The PSA is also working with other banks to accept the National Identity Card for authentication. It recently started piloting national ID authentication services at the Land Bank of the Philippines East Avenue branch.
“We have issued advice on the acceptance of the digital National ID. It has the same validity as the physical one,” Ms. Pagador said.
Last month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued a memorandum requiring all BSP-supervised financial institutions to accept all forms of the national identification card, including the digital version.
Entities that have integrated the National ID into their operations include Asia United Bank, GCash, GoTyme, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Home Credit Philippines, the Government Service Insurance System, the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG, and the Philippine Health Insurance. Corp.
Ms Pagador added that complaints about organizations not accepting the national identity card have dropped to single digits. In 2021 they reached the top 100.
The National ID has helped reduce costs and time for residents seeking to obtain a business license by 75%, Naoto Kanehira, Senior Digital Development Specialist at the World Bank, told the forum.
Meanwhile, Republic Act No. 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act still requires the delivery of the physical national identification cards.
“We are working on something to continue printing the (physical) cards,” Ms. Pagador said.
The central bank has signed the printing contract with AllCard, Inc. terminated and the dispute was submitted to arbitration. The BSP oversees the printing of physical ID cards.
The National ID is expected to help boost growth over the next decade by giving the vulnerable and unbanked access to key government and financial services, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Ivan John E. Uy told the forum.
“The National ID will play an important role in boosting the country’s economic growth. The economy is expected to contribute significantly, up to 10%, to GDP (gross domestic product) over the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.
The PSA is partnering with the University of the Philippines and the Modular Open Source Identity Platform to launch a research and design center to realize the potential benefits of the National ID. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz