Digital ID to help target beneficiaries of Philippines aid distribution program

Rolando Bautista, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development says the PhilID national digital ID will enable authorities easily identify potential beneficiaries of a charity program tagged Social Amelioration Program, the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) reports.

The official made the statement at a time when the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is looking to ramp up its campaign for the PhilSys program as 16.1 million Filipinos or aliens living in the country have already completed the Step 2 process.

The Step 2 involves capture of biometrics, and is the final stage before issuance of the digital ID cards.

The SAP is a government initiative to alleviate the sufferings of thousands of those who are badly affected by the advent of COVID-19, by making cash transfers to them.

According to Bautista, although the program has registered significant success, more potential beneficiaries will be accurately targeted if they possess the PhilID.

“PhilSys will serve as basis to really identify the beneficiaries and enroll them to digital payments” PNA quoted Bautista as saying, adding that without the identity cards, the process to identify the beneficiaries would not be smooth and accurate.

In the same light, the PhilID has also enabled over two million unbanked Filipinos to have a financial inclusion account.

Over 16 million Filipinos complete biometric capture stage

In a recent statement issued by the PSA, it emerged that a total of 16, 170,330 have completed the Step 2 enrollment and are now in wait to pick up their digital ID cards, according to a PNA report.

Per the Statistics Authority, this figure is that of those who had their “demographic information validated and their biometric data collected in registration centres nationwide since January this year.”

It disclosed that areas which have the highest number of cumulative registrations include Biliran, Catanduanes, and National Capital Region, particularly the Camanava, which involves Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela.

Dennis Sipa, PSA Undersecretary, was quoted as praising people for braving the health constraints and showing up to complete their registration process.

He said moving forward, the PSA will continue to partner with local government units and the private sector in order to push ahead the PhilSys enrollment, PNA notes.

The Agency believes it is on track toward achieving its set objective of registering from 50 to 70 million citizens by the end of the year.

The PSA recently entered into an MoU to expand biometric capture venues for the PhilSys program, and announced a plan to launch a website for verifying PhilID holders’ demographic information.

Article Topics

biometric enrollment  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  financial inclusion  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  Philippines  |  social security