After trying hard in several Congressional sessions, the sponsors of the storm known as the national identification (ID) system finally achieved landfall recently. The House passed the national ID bill on third and final reading; and the measure has gone up to the Senate for that chamber’s consideration.
As in past Congresses, the current effort to get a national ID bill passed has been fiercely opposed by those who think in terms of George Orwell’s “Big Brother” and believe that the national ID system is the first step along the way to a state of national regimentation, in which the privacy gradually disappears and the authorities know everything there is to know about every citizen. But this time their arguments did not prevail against the counter-arguments of the bill’s proponents.
The most important of these counter-arguments was the assertion that virtually all of the data that will go into each national ID card are already in the public domain and that the card will simply collate all of those data. The data that will appear in each national ID card are already indicated in such government issuances as drivers’ licenses, Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) membership cards, voters’ ID cards, applications for loans and requests for passports and other government documents. In other words, the information that will be sought for the national ID card is already available to the public in one place or another.
The other counter-argument that helped carry the day for the pro-national ID system’s proponents was the assertion that a national ID system, by facilitating identification of individuals, will be conducive to better governance and greater security. Knowing who and where the people of this country makes it possible for the authorities to implement national policies in an efficient and thorough manner. Considering that this country’s population has passed the 100-million mark and continues to grow at a naggingly high rate, the administrative-efficiency factor is of critical importance.
What personal information should and should not be included in the proposed national ID card? The answer is, only the information that the authorities need to be able to enforce the public-order, health and fiscal laws. Any information in excess of data should be the subject of searching debate that takes into account privacy and administrative-necessity issues.
Let’s begin with a driver’s license and SSS and GSIS membership cards. All the personal data indicated in those cards—personal circumstances, personal residence, profession or business, professional or business address, next of kin—obviously need to be indicated in the national ID card. (But definitely not personal circumstances as religion or political affiliation).
Other data that should be included in the national ID card—in order to bring all the salient personal information under one roof, so to speak —are a citizen’s TIN (tax identification number) and voter’s ID number. The TIN will lead the way to the TIN owner’s fiscal relations with the government—including his business and financial dealings—and the composition of his immediate family. The voter’s ID will be of prime interest to the Commission on Elections and the political parties at election time; it will be confirmatory of the would-be voter’s true residence.
Two pieces of information that I personally feel should be included in the proposed national ID card are the card owner’s blood type and his attitude to organ donorship (wish/do not wish to donate), The blood-type information is of crucial importance in case of an accident; with the accident victim’s blood type indicated, first responders will not finish him off by giving him a transfusion of type A+ blood into his RH-negative veins.
There has been much debate as to whether information such as parents’ names should also be indicated in the proposed national ID card. Some agencies and institutions use the maiden name of a card owner’s mother to confirm his identity. Assuming that there would be enough space in the proposed national ID card for this additional information, I personally would be willing to see it included in the card.
I have asked it before and I’m asking the question again: What’s the big fuss about a national ID system? Putting together in one card all the data that are available elsewhere about an individual is no big deal to me. “Big Brother” is still far away.
