Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) opened Thursday a fixed registration center in Pampanga to cater to prospective registrants for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
PSA Regional Office III Officer-in-Charge Arlene Divino said the registration center, located at the second floor of Robinsons Starmills, will serve as a counter for the Step 2 process of the PhilSys which is focused on the validation of supporting documents and collection of registrants’ biometric information, including fingerprint biometrics, iris scans and face photographs.
Step 1 involved PSA enumerators going house-to-house and collecting demographic information of low-income household heads in select areas nationwide conducted in the last quarter of 2020.
The fixed registration center, which is open Mondays to Saturdays from 9:00AM to 7:00PM, will initially cater to San Fernando residents who have undertaken the Step 1 process and have received message from the PSA as to their respective Step 2 schedules.
“Walk-in clients could be accommodated, provided there are no scheduled registrants in queue at the time of their visit,” Divino clarified.
The rollout of the PhilSys Step 2 process should have been implemented in January this year, admitting some minor glitches in the system prevented the agency from pushing this through.
“Supposedly, this should have started first week of January, but we needed to perfect the system first because we cannot afford to rollout with even a minor glitch in the system as this would be a lifetime ID,” Divino said.
She also clarified that Step 1 will still be continued as one of the three modes PSA has devised for the registration process, which include assisted registration, online registration, and institutional registration.
“We were able to devise three modes of registration for Step 1. Mode 1 is assisted, where PhilSys field teams will conduct house-to-house pre-registration, specifically to reach low-income households in areas where there is slow internet connectivity. Mode 2 is online, where registrants connect to the PhilSys online portal, enter their demographic information, and set their schedule for appointment with designated registration center near their residence. And Mode 3 is institutional, a mobile registration where PhilSys team will go directly to institutions like military camps, seminaries, nursing homes, and the like,’ Divino explained.
The official clarified, however, that online registration for Step 1 has yet to commence but is targeted for implementation by second quarter this year.
Under these three modes, the PSA targets to register more than 7.8 million Central Luzon residents this year, broken down as follows: Aurora – 132,372; Bataan – 538,637; Bulacan – 2,232,488; Nueva Ecija – 1,545,683; Pampanga – 1,824,899; Tarlac – 967,272; and Zambales – 594,969.
“Priority target is 15 years old and above, but the moment we reached our target, we may register those below 15 years old. For 5 years old below, we require their mothers should have been registered first and these young registrants would be required to re-register upon reaching the age of 15,” Divino noted.
As of date, the PSA has already established a total of 231 PhilSys registration centers in almost all municipalities and cities regionwide.
Divino mentioned that the PhilSys ID or the National ID will provide a lot of benefits and advantages, as it serves as a singular proof of identity, containing the basic information of every Filipino registered in the system.
“The use of Philsys will ease transactions with the public and private sectors, including application to social welfare services at the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Philhealth and PagIBIG,” she affirmed.
Divino added that the PhilSys ID will also provide financial inclusion by easier access to banks, as well as smooth distribution of social amelioration aid using a digital platform.
Philsys also offers valid proof of identity when applying to government services such as application for passport, driver’s license and tax-related transactions. It will also ease employment processes and transactions such as verification to police and NBI clearances.
Divino shared that the goal of Philsys is to be able to register all Filipinos by the end of 2022.
During the opening of the PhilSys fixed registration center in Pampanga, various stakeholders expressed support to the PhilSys, noting the relevance of the program in promoting seamless delivery of services, enhancing administrative governance, and eliminating fraudulent transactions, red tape and misrepresentations in the bureaucracy.
Pampanga Board Member Rosve Henson, who represented Governor Dennis Pineda, commended the PSA for continuing the PhilSys despite the current pandemic.
“To the lives of ordinary Filipinos, not only Kapampangans, life must go on. They will always need assistance, especially from our government. So now is not the time for the government to stop operating. What a timely and welcome development is this Philippine Identification System,” Henson expressed.
On the other hand, Pampanga 3rd District Representative Aurelio Gonzales said the signing into law of Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, by President Duterte in 2018 is a monumental accomplishment of the 18th Congress.
He recollected that when he assumed office as member of the House of Representatives in 2007 during the 14th Congress, the PhilSys was already one of the proposed legislations being debated on the floor, but was overtaken by events. It was re-filed congress after congress, faced a lot of oppositions in the process, until it was finally passed during the 18th Congress in 2018.
Gonzales then encouraged all Kapampangans to register for the PhilSys.
Meanwhile, National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director Agustin Mendoza said that with the advent of the National ID System, the country is now geared towards digitization.
“Digitization is one of the components of what is known as fourth industrial revolution. Moving forward, the PhilSys will definitely ease delivery of government services [to our people],” Mendoza shared.