BSP to produce cards for National ID

Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:45:23 +0000

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will produce 116 million blank cards to be used by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for the implementation of the National Identification System or PhilSys.

This was revealed during the signing of memorandum of agreement between the BSP and the PSA held at the Philippine International Convention Center on Monday.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno

In his message, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the central bank will produce the cards over a period of three years for “Phil IDs” that are non-transferable cards to be issued to all Philippine citizens or resident aliens registered under PhilSys.

Diokno added that the BSP will also provide the needed equipment and space for the embedding of personal information onto the blank cards, which will be done by the PSA.
Republic Act 11055, or the “Philippine Identification System Act,” paved way for the establishment of PhilSys that will be implemented by the PSA.

In line with the financial inclusion initiative of the BSP, Diokno stressed that the law is universally beneficial for Filipinos as it provides “a means of simplifying public and private transactions” through a reliable and nationally accepted proof of identity.

“Having this proof of identity has far-reaching benefits, especially in promoting financial inclusion,” he said.

With the “Philippine ID,” he added that unbanked Filipinos will have a proof of identity which is a key requirement in accessing formal financial services.

“Right now the KYC (know your customer) requirement is that you have another issued ID to open an account. Now, with PhilSys, all you need is the National ID to open an account,” the BSP chief said.

“This will enable more of our underprivileged countrymen to enjoy gains from and participate more actively in the country’s growing economy,” he also pointed out.

Meanwhile, BSP Senior Assistant Governor Dahlia Luna said producing the blank cards will cost the PSA P3.4 billion or P30 apiece.

“We have to make sure that the blank ID will have the security feature like the minimum requirement of the PSA. We will also have [there] optical variable security features,” Luna explained.

For his part, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Claire Dennis Mapa said the PSA is on track to provide the Phil IDs to all registered Filipinos and aliens by 2022.

“We are doing pilot testing. Once the system is in place, meaning it’s efficient and we don’t have problem, we will do a roll out starting July next year,” Mapa announced.

He said the PSA is targeting to release about 14 to 15 million IDs by 2020, and increase it up to 50 million cards by 2021.

“And then the rest would come by 2022. So we will cover almost all of the targeted individual by mid 2022,” the PSA chief added.

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