The Ayala and Aboitiz groups are teaming up with Unisys Philippines to bid for the national identification system project.
Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Aboitiz group’s Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. and Unisys Philippines submitted an unsolicited offer to the government to develop a national ID system.
Ayala Corp. said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the consortium submitted the proposal to the Philippine Statistics Authority on Aug. 13.
The proposal involves the design and development of a national identity infrastructure solution which would collect, store, maintain, manage and authenticate identity information of individuals.
“The 17-year proposal provides an expedient, comprehensive and long-term solution that will enable the government to realize the full potential of its strategic programs by providing a safe and secure identification and benefits payment mechanism for individuals transacting with government,” Ayala Corp. said.
The consortium’s proposal came after President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law The Philippine System Identification Act (PhilSys Act), which ordered the government to create a single official ID card for all Filipinos and resident aliens in the country.
The Budget Department said the national ID system would promote seamless delivery of service, improve the efficiency, transparency and targeted delivery of public and social services and enhance administrative governance.
The national ID system is expected to reduce corruption, curtail bureaucratic red tape, avert fraudulent transactions and misrepresentations, strengthen financial inclusion and promote ease of doing business.
Under the law, every Filipino and resident alien of the country will be identified through the use of a unique and permanent PhilSys Number which is randomly generated. It will serve as the standard number assigned to each individual to be incorporated in all identification systems of government agencies.
Currently, the most harmonized identification system that the Philippines has is the Unified Multi-purpose ID or UMID, which is issued to the members of the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).
The UMID, however, covers less than 20 percent of the population since the start of its implementation and enrollment process in 2010.
The government allocated P2 billion for the implementation of national ID system this year.