METRO MANILA (MDN National News, June 11) – Malacañang announced Tuesday that the National ID system already signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte will start in September, this year.
Principally authored by Senator Panfilo Lacson, the national ID system's implementation was tackled during a cabinet meeting spearheaded by President Duterte.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo told the media that there will be a pilot testing which will run from September to December 2019 to register a substantial number of Filipinos nationwide.
With the system, the Philippine Government aims to register around 107 million Filipinos until 2022, the year that the president's term of office also ends.
In August last year, Duterte signed the national ID law purposely to reduce corruption and red tape in government, enhance governance, as well as a tool to safeguard the public from fraudulent usage by unscrupulous individuals.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) assured the public that all data will be safe from unauthorized access.
But despite PSA's assurance, opposition from the Makabayan bloc also looms at the House of Representatives, adding that the national ID system is a big threat to invasion of privacy among Filipinos.
Makabayan bloc suspects that said law could lead to state surveillance on all citizens of the country.
The Kabataan partylist represented by Sarah Elago also expresses concerns that the National ID system, otherwise known as PhilSys, could be used to harass Filipinos oppose to the Duterte administration and its policies.
But based on the law, local folks should be given enough information before they will register for PhilSys. They will be informed how their data can be used in a manner provided by law.
It said that the PhilSys data will include, among others, the demographic data of the person, including the name, gender, date of birth, place of birth, blood type, address, classification whether Filipino or alien. It will also include the mobile number of the person, marital status and email address, but they are optional only.
The issuance of the PhilSys ID card for Filipinos, according to thr report, is FREE of charge. ###
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