The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday that it hopes all Filipinos will have their national IDs by the end of the year. It also told the public that work is being done to fix the problems that have slowed down the project.
Arsenio Balisacan, who is in charge of NEDA, said that it is important to finish the project because it will lower processing costs and save the government a lot of money from its aid programs.
Arsenio Balisacan
Balisacan stated that some delays have happened, but the problems are being fixed.
The goal before the pandemic was to give out real IDs, but that the pandemic “changed the whole game” and now people want a digital version of the ID.
READ: Filipinos Worries As Video of National IDs Found in Trash Circulates
Balisacan says that there is now an understanding that gives the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsibility for the digital IDs and lets the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) keep making and giving out physical IDs.
He said that the digital ID would help the government’s aid programs because it would stop double payments, “ghost” recipients, and other problems.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte signed the Philippine Identification System Act in 2018 to create a national identification system for Filipinos and permanent immigrants.
The confirmation of identification was meant to facilitate public and private transactions, social services, and financial inclusion.
On July 11, almost 80 million Filipinos had enrolled for the Philippine Identification System. By year’s end, the PSA will produce 50 million actual IDs.
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