By Vito Barcelo and Vince Lopez
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to speed up the printing of the digital version of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) ID.
“Let us print out as much as we can, and then we could follow up the physical ID as soon as we can,” the President said in a meeting with National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and PSA officials.
The meeting, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) also in attendance, discussed the BSP’s printing capacity and the backlog in the data needed for the IDs.
The Chief Executive was informed that the data flow from the PSA to the BSP had been rectified.
PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa said the PSA will continue to collaborate with the BSP to fast-track and raise the volume of Phil ID production and printing.
The national ID system law institutionalizes a single official identification for all citizens and foreign residents in the country. It incorporates the PhilSys number of every Filipino in all identification systems of government agencies.
Registered persons can immediately use the benefits of PhilSys through the printed Phil ID, such as faster and seamless transactions in accessing financial and social protection services requiring proof of identity, subject to authentication.
The law allows registered individuals to use the ID in renewing passports, licenses, and state clearances, among other state-authorized requirements that need to be presented to avail of certain public and private services.
The government has said the centralized system would improve the delivery of public services.
The PSA earlier pointed to the influx of registrants in the PhilSys for the delay in the printing of the cards.
Through this ID, registered persons can immediately utilize the benefits of PhilSys.
