MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Some 2.44 million individuals in the Ilocos Region have registered for Step 2 of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) as of Oct. 27.
Camille Carla Beltran, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Ilocos Region civil registration and administrative support division officer-in-charge, said of the total number, 155,000 were from Ilocos Norte, 396,000 from Ilocos Sur, 442,000 from La Union, and 1.45 million were from Pangasinan.
“These include all transactions who had registered regardless of age,” she said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Beltran added Ilocos Norte is now at 82 percent of its target, Ilocos Sur at 79 percent, La Union at 72 percent, and Pangasinan at 62 percent.
“We know that Pangasinan has a large population since it is the biggest among the four provinces in the Ilocos Region,” she said.
Beltran said the PhilSys cards will be delivered by the Philippine Postal Corporation.
“Some took six months to deliver due to the verification process because of duplication. We make sure there is no duplication,” she said.
Beltran added the PhilSys registration Step 2 for five to 14 years old minors is now ongoing in the different localities in the region depending on the existing quarantine guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force in the locality.
“The other local government units (LGUs) allow minors to go out, however some do not, so it is still under the guidelines of the respective LGUs,” she said.
Step 2 involves the actual sign up which includes the validation of demographic information and capture of fingerprint, iris, and face images at PhilSys registration centers.
Meanwhile, PSA is discouraging the public from posting their PhilSys cards online or lending them to other people.
“It may be copied or falsified especially the PhilSys number, which is unique in every individual. So beware of posting online or lending it to other people,” she said.
Beltran said the PhilSys card does not have the signature of the individual bearer to prevent forging of signature.
She, however, said a machine reader or a quick response code scanner could disclose the needed information of the bearer, including the signature.
“We had a memorandum of agreement with some national government agencies who would honor the PhilSys card as a valid identification card even in the absence of the signature of the bearer while we are working on the acceptance of other institutions,” she added.
Beltran said a machine reader will soon be available at PSA’s regional office in La Union to pilot the use of the equipment in scanning PhilSys cards.
Signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.
The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrolment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.
It also seeks to boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions. (PNA)
