With all the delays and issues in implementation of the national ID system, it is high time to appoint new leadership at the Philippine Statistics Authority, specifically for fixing the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza said Sunday.
The PhilSys ID project is managed through the PSA through now-retired Assistant Secretary Rosalinda Bautista, deputy national statistician of the PhilSys Registry Office.
According to Daza, this is “a golden opportunity” for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “to find the right individual who will rectify what has happened in the last four years.”
A check on the Commission on Audit report for 2021 showed the total actual deliveries of pre-personalized cards by the contractor, AllCard, was 27,356,750 pieces, or 76 percent of the annual requirement of 36 million as of the end of December 2021.
Daza, along with BH party-list Rep Bernadette Herrera, also raised the long list of complaints on the IDs, among them, the “erasable” print quality.
“We have been receiving complaints on the ID, with people saying it is ‘PhilTiis,’” he lamented.
He highlighted the need to monitor disbursements, saying the project had been issued P28.4 billion worth of total appropriations, thus far, P6.8 billion (24%) had already been appropriated since 2018.
Delays and efficient utilization of the people’s funds for the project were called out by Daza during his interpellation of the National Economic Development Authority’s 2023 budget.
The slow and problematic implementation of the project, Daza said, could be enough to reconsider the allocation of P2 billion for the PhilSys ID System in 2023.
The PSA is an agency attached to the NEDA. It is currently led by Undersecretary Dennis Mapa, PhD, who serves as the National Statistician and Civil Registrar General.
“It’s important that appropriations are based on judicious and efficient use of public funds. We encourage NEDA to ensure that disbursements are based on milestones but clearly, there are delays and problems in this project,” Daza stressed.
NEDA’s 2023 appropriations sponsor Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo acknowledged the status of the project and, on behalf of the PSA, vouched for incoming improvements, as well as the completion of the deliveries of the IDs.
During the interpellation, Daza reiterated the purpose of the PhilSys ID project, which was to provide to Filipinos faster means of transacting with government agencies or private institutions, such as banks that require verification of their identity.