As part of its initiative to combat the proliferation of fake persons with disabilities (PWDs) identification (ID) cards, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its attached agency, the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), will start the roll out of the unified ID system in pilot local government units (LGUs) by October.
According to Assistant Secretary for Information and Communications Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Johannes Paulus Acuña, the unified ID system for PWDs is now in the internal pilot testing stage.
“We are already doing some e internal technical pilots and then we are showing it to our partners at NCDA. So, we are doing internal testing development this July, August and September, so that we can prepare the actual roll out in the [pilot] LGUs starting October of this year,” Acuña told reporters.
The unified ID system for persons with disabilities is an initiative of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian that aligns with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s agenda to promote more inclusive programs and policies for vulnerable sectors.
Some 200,000 persons with disabilities—which is roughly 10 percent of the estimated more than 2 million persons with disabilities nationwide—from 35 participating LGUs are expected to join in the pilot roll out.
The pilot areas include Parang, Maguindanao from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM); the cities of Dagupan, San Carlos, Urdaneta, and Alaminos in Pangasinan; Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; almost all municipalities in Bulacan province; Cainta, San Mateo, Santa Rosa, Teresa, and Antipolo City in Rizal province; Carmona, Cavite; Pila, Laguna, Daet, Camarines Norte; Kalibo, Aklan; Candijay, Bohol; Malaybalay, Bukidnon; Koronadal City and Surallah in South Cotabato; and the cities of Pasay and Muntinlupa in the National Capital Region (NCR).
For the roll out, Acuña said the LGUs will be responsible for the application, verification, and approval of the unified PWDs card, while the centralized printing of the IDs will be handled by the NCDA.
The DSWD CIO also explained that they are working with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ensure that the unified PWDs ID system will be easily verified using the database of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).