More than 10 million Filipinos have completed the second step in the registration for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
On Monday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that 10,092,022 Filipinos have completed the collection of biometric information as of May 21, 2021. This step includes the validation of supporting documents and capturing biometrics of registrants (iris and fingerprint scans, front-facing photograph) at local registration centers.
Due to the pandemic, the PSA is doing the Step 2 registration on a small-scale basis to avoid crowding and violation of social distancing protocols.
PSA Philsys Registry Office’s Deputy National Statistician, Assistant Secretary Rosalinda Bautista, however, assured Filipinos “that all will have a chance to register, especially when we ramp up our operations by the latter half of the year.”
The Philippine Identification (PhilID) card with the PhilSys Number will be issued in Step 3. It contains all the records collected and encoded.
As of May 15, over 100,000 PhilID cards have been sent through PHLPost (Philippine Postal Corporation), the PSA’s official courier partner.
Signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.
The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.
