NEW SITE. A registration center in Tawi-Tawi province welcomes applicants for the national identification card in this May 2021 photo. The Philippine Statistics Authority has registration centers even in remote towns like Sitangkai and Sibutu. (Photo courtesy of PhilSys)
DAVAO CITY – As thousands of Philippine Identification (PhilID) cards are ready for delivery, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reminded establishments to honor the IDs or they will be violating the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Act.
Establishments that refuse to accept the PhilID as valid proof of identity will be subject to a fine of an appropriate amount in compliance with Section 19 of Republic Act 11055, the PSA reminded.
Section 12 of the PhilSys Act states that the PhilID is an official government-issued ID that can be used in transactions requiring proof of identity or proper identification.
PhilID can be used to open a bank account, execute money transfer, and for other financial services, in applying for jobs, and obtaining government documents.
The PSA said 103,935 PhilIDs are already with official courier partner PHLPost, received from printer Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as of May 15, 2021.
Step 1 (demographic information) registrants have reached 1,052,861 as of May 19.
National Economic Development Authority Secretary Karl Chua reported to President Rodrigo Duterte during a recent Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases meeting that of 6.4 million Step 2 registrants as of May 3, a total of 2.2 million submitted their documents required for the opening of a bank account with Land Bank of the Philippines.
Out of the 2.2 million, 806,000 successfully opened accounts, with those from low-income families now with access to government assistance and credit lines from the private sector.
Signed into law in August 2018, the PhilSys Act aims to establish a single national ID for Filipinos and resident aliens.
The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity and a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrollment in schools, and opening of bank accounts.
It will also boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions. (PNA)
