The Philippine Identification System ID card (PNA file photo)
LEGAZPI CITY – Some 4.5 million residents of the Bicol region are already registered with the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), the Philippine Statistics Authority-Region 5 (PSA-5) said on Friday.
In an interview, Cecille Briones, PSA-5 officer-in-charge (OIC) for the civil registration and administrative support division, said the completed registrations are equivalent to 88 percent of the total target population.
"We have a remaining of 609,000 na kailangan ma-register by the end of this year, yun na lang ang hinahabol namin (that needs to be registered by the end of this year, that's all we're pursuing) to achieve a 100-percent accomplishment for 2023," Briones said.
She said PSA-Bicol holds various saturation drives to find the remaining unregistered residents.
"Currently, we have this PhilSys on Wheels that reaches out to far-flung areas, barangays, and house-to-house. We rent tricycles and with our vehicles, we go to remote areas with the possible registrant for PhilSys," Briones said.
She said PSA also has colocation strategies with the Department of Social Welfare and Development during payouts of their beneficiaries, and with different schools and offices.
"We put up a registration booth to capture those beneficiaries that need to register. We also partner with big schools in the region for the registration of our students," Briones said.
She said aside from the fixed registration sites, they came up with different strategies to help more Bicolano residents avail of the free Philippine Identification (PhilID) card.
"At least 2.5 million IDs were delivered in the region by the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) while 1.7 million electronic PhilIDs (ePhilIDs)were issued by our office," Briones said.
The issuance of the ePhilIDs is one of the measures implemented by the agency after it experienced problems in issuing the PhilID cards.
"To have the ePhilID, they have to go to the fixed registration site and provide to PSA staff the transaction number they were provided during their registration. The PSA staff will generate and print a copy of their ePhilID. The purpose of the ePhilID and those who have physical cards are just the same. Kung saan tinatanggap ang polyvinyl chloride cards yun din po ang pwede gamitan ng ePhilIDs, sa lahat po ng transactions parehas lang (Where polyvinyl chloride cards are accepted, ePhilIDs can also be used, it is the same in all transactions)," Briones added.
PSA-Bicol urges the public to report government or private institutions that are not allowing the PhilIDs or ePhilIDs as valid proof of identity in any transactions.
Based on PSA data, the number of registrants per province is as follows: Albay - 993,595; Camarines Norte - 473,950; Camarines Sur - 1,441,479; Catanduanes - 238,091; Masbate - 691,776 and Sorsogon - 644,990. (PNA)
