Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) makes printable, downloadable, and mobile-app-based Philippine Identification cards, commonly known as ‘National ID cards. The rollout is set for October.
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A total of 50 million physical and digital cards are expected to be issued by PSA by the end of 2022. Earlier this week, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. issued directives regarding the identification system in his first State of the Nation Address. He called for the accelerated distribution of national IDs and reaching 92 million by 2023.
The PSA anticipates delivering 30 million physical IDs, while 20 million digital IDs will be distributed.
Registrants can print, download, or generate a digital National ID that can be used immediately while they wait for the physical version as part of the agency’s proactive strategy. This process will require only the mobile application they plan to release shortly.
The news that a printable national ID was being released recently caused a great deal of concern among the public regarding its security. Despite that, PSA assures that the digital and the physical IDs share a security feature that protects both the digital and the physical copies of the IDs.
A QR code has been attached to the digital ID to make a unique digital signature that can be scanned for counter-checking using the website provided by PhilSys Check.
According to Dennis Mapa, PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician, the national ID can only be printed from PSA registration centers. As a result, such printable IDs would not be published by unauthorized parties.
PSA also confirmed that the digital National ID would have the same functionality and validity as the physical National ID.
