Philippines central bank targets 23 million biometric national ID cards in 2020

Philippines central bank is planning to produce 23 million biometric national IDs with fingerprint, iris and facial data in 2020, including 16 million during the first quarter, the Manila Bulletin reports.

The numbers are according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials, and BSP Assistant Governor Dahlia D. Luna said the institution will initially lease the machines for card production, and purchase them after three or four years. Luna is in charge of the BSP Security Plant Complex (SPC) in Quezon City, and says that SPC will be unable to carry out procurement this year due to capacity issues and scheduling.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has previously said that the national ID will include Filipinos who do not have government-issued ID, such as from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and that he eventually expects those enrolled to be able to enter the financial system by opening bank deposit accounts.

The BSP has a goal of printing 107 million IDs by the end of the Duterte administration’s term in 2022.

BSP was announced as the producer of the national ID cards in June. Earlier this year the bank also took back responsibility for printing the country’s passports, which it had previously been responsible for prior to 2015.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  national ID  |  Philippines