Filipino lawmakers deplore missed target for biometric ID card production

The House Committee on Appropriations of the Philippines parliament has been told that only 36 million physical ID cards (PhilID) have been printed to date, out of an expected 92 million.

During a recent budget hearing, the Appropriations Committee members learnt that the company contracted by the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) for the job, produced only 80,000 biometric ID cards a day, out of the expected 126,000 daily target, Manila Bulleting reports.

Asked why the company failed to meet the target, the BSP Assistant Governor Iluminada Sicat said it was as a result of many factors which included operational difficulties like design changes and personalization processes.

The Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) Chief Dennis Mapa also explained that a key design change issue contributed to the delay. This involved making changes to information in the card’s QR code.

During the briefing, the Appropriations Committee Chair Stella Luz Quimbo asked that a full report on the evolution of the PhilID project be submitted to the panel.

The government has earmarked 1.61 billion Philippine pesos (US$28 million) in the national budget to fund the PhilSys digital ID system, which includes the PhilID, according to the PNA.

Meanwhile, the PSA says it is investigating the discovery of national ID cards found in a garbage disposal site at a town in the Negros Occidental Province.

In a news release, PSA Chief Mapa said they are working in collaboration with the Philippine Postal Corporation on the probe and they commit to addressing any gaps found in the card delivery system.

The PSA also reassured of its commitment to ensuring the safety of all data collected from registrants.

“The privacy and security of the data of PhilSys-registered persons is of the highest priority, and strict protocols in the distribution of PhilIDs and ePhilIDs have been in place since the beginning of its distribution.”

“The PSA remains strongly committed to its mandate of ensuring the security of registered persons’ data from the first step of registration up to the distribution of PhilIDs and ePhilIDs.”

Meanwhile, Rappler notes that there were 87 discarded IDs in all, three of them being PVC-type cards.

The PSA says over 70 million PhilIDs have been issued.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  national ID  |  PhilID  |  Philippines