Palace backs national ID over Muslim-only IDs

MANILA, Philippines — Amid proposals to issue IDs to Muslim Filipinos, Malacañang stressed it supports the creation of a national ID system instead.

This follows reports that Central Luzon police suggested issuing special IDs to Muslims to help authorities identify people with ties to terrorists.

"We are not saying that we are not supporting it, but what we really are emphasizing is a national ID," Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a televised press briefing.

The municipality of Paniqui in Tarlac province has already implemented an identification card system exclusively for Muslims, a move that has been met with criticism.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said that the special ID system is a form of discrimination against Muslims.

Abella, however, noted that issuing Muslims IDs is only a local initiative, a point also stressed by Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa. Dela Rosa also said that he saw nothing wrong with keeping track of people who are newcomers to a locality.

"The Palace's position is that there should be a national ID," Abella stressed.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, earlier said that asking for IDs from just one sector of the society is discriminatory.

“Our proposal is when we start checking identification of individuals, it should not be aimed at certain sectors of our society but it must be applicable to everyone,” Padilla said.

READ: AFP: National ID better than discriminatory Muslim-only IDs

There are proposals at the House of Representatives and the Senate for the government to create a national ID system for all transactions with government offices. If passed into law, Filipinos will be issued identification cards with a Common Reference Number that will allow government to access information like the card owner’s Social Security System or Government Service Insurance System number. The card will also contain biometric data for easier verification.

Proposals for a national ID have been filed in past congresses but these have failed to get through the legislative mill.

Among the concerns raised by those opposed to a national ID is the possibility of invasion of privacy.

 "Aside from the fact that this is an invasion of our people’s privacy, this measure may have some very serious security implications since the proposed repository of all these data is the Philippine Statistics Authority that is now being  controlled by a US-based firm called Unisys,” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said in May after a House panel approved a proposal for a national ID system.

"What is more alarming is that PSA could not even disclose safeguarding measures to monitor how troves of information would be kept and managed by these foreign companies." he also said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief, has been batting for a national ID system since he was head of the Philippine National Police and as a lawmaker. 

"The quantum leaps in the tides of criminality and the continuing challenge of terrorism have rendered the need for a national identification system more urgent than ever,” Lacson said in 2016, virtually repeating the same argument he made in 2006.

Under Senate Bill 41, which Lacson filed last year, all information collected and stored in the national ID system would remain confidential.

Data can only be disseminated when the owner of the information expressly authorizes disclosure in writing, "or if it is in the interest of public health or safety."