National ID system pre-registration hits 10 million

MANILA, Philippines — More than 10 million Filipinos have pre-registered for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), the National Economic and Development Authority reported on Wednesday.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which implements the project, said 10.045 million Filipinos from 664 cities and municipalities throughout 32 provinces have been pre-registered.

The figure exceeded the nine million target for 2020, covering a total of 5.244 million households.

On Jan. 4, the next step of the registration process will start. This involves the validation of the supporting documents, capture of biometric information at designated centers and the issuance of a unique PhilSys number.

Pre-registration was first conducted in low-risk areas of viral transmission, during which demographic information was collected.

These were Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Albay, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental and Tawi-Tawi.

More people from the priority provinces will be registered into the system this month alongside the start of the pre-registration process for other areas, including Metro Manila.

PhilSys is a foundational ID meant to address one of the major barriers to financial inclusion, which is the lack of valid identification. Of the 10 million pre-registered Filipinos, 89.4 percent are currently unbanked.

To help address this, those completing the second step of the registration process for the National ID system can open an account with the Land Bank of the Philippines that will co-locate with the PSA in registration centers.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua said the Land Bank would have one desk manned by their agents per registration site, which will be dedicated to facilitating the opening of bank accounts by registrants.

The PSA targets to have 92 million Filipinos registered into the PhilSys by June 2022.