ORANI, Bataan – Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine B. Roman on Friday said she was delighted with the passage into law of the Philippine National ID System Bill.
President Rodrigo Duterte last August 6, signed into law the bill that will establish a national ID system in the Philippines.
“I am immensely pleased at the passage into law of the National ID System Bill which has already been signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. For many years now, we have lagged behind our neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia which have imposed a National ID System for quite a long period of time,” Roman said.
She further added that the Data Privacy Act of 2012 is already in place in order to secure and protect personal data, and measures are in place to address concerns on data leaks and security.
The national ID system has been a very controversial issue in the past decades with experts warning that it could violate a person’s right to privacy but the Duterte government insisted that security mechanisms are in place to protect stored information.
Roman reiterated that she absolutely in support of the new National ID System Law mainly for the following reasons:
1. The National ID System would make life much easier for our countrymen. With a National ID, there is no need for a different ID for each government agency and citizens would not need anymore to go back and forth to process various IDs with different government offices. Time, effort, money and resources, both on the part of the government, and the citizens, will definitely be saved.
2. The National ID System means efficiency and streamling. Transactions and information will be streamlined as there will be a single ID for everything, thus, resulting in a more efficient delivery of government and private services. With a National ID System, there is no more need to have separate IDs for Voters’ Registration, Philhealth, SSS, Pag-ibig, etc. Bureaucratic and unnecessary red tape will be cut.
3. A National ID System will prevent fraud and identity theft and will definitely reduce crime and terrorism. A National ID System will be also be of great assistance to law enforcement agencies for the reason that criminals will now be more easily identified. There will also be less recidivists because each crime committed by a National ID holder will appear in his recorded data.
4. It is pro-poor. With a National ID System in place, the poor Filipinos, many of whom could not present IDs in their government and private dealings, will now be able to avail of banking, financing and other services by showing their National ID.
5. The National ID System is open to a possible Gender Recognition Law. During the Congressional deliberations on the National ID System Bill, I was assured by the authors of the bill that the if approved into law, the new system will be open to a Gender -Recognition Law, should one come into being in the future, subject to compliance with the legal and judicial steps and processes that are provided in the aforesaid law.
“My sincerest congratulations to the principal authors most especially to (House) Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” Roman added.