Philippines to examine biometric data quality, fast-track digital ID issuance

The poor quality of biometrics collected by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has put the rollout of the PhilSys ID card this year in jeopardy, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

BusinessMirror reports that DICT Secretary Ivan John E. Uy says some PSA service providers appear to have used low quality webcams when capturing facial images. The image quality is too low in some cases for the biometric system to match their facial features, he says.

People who must resubmit their biometrics will be contacted by SMS, Uy says. A feature could also be added to the eGov Super App to allow PhilSys registrants to chose a picture for their digital ID.

DICT is examining the PSA’s biometric database to evaluate the quality of the data it holds.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has instructed DICT to fast-track the issuance of the digital IDs, “because a lot of things needed to be done and it’s all dependent on the deployment of a national ID,” Uy says. The President also told DICT to assist the PSA with biometrics collection in a social media post spotted by Politiko.

The goal remains to distribute digital IDs to all 80 million enrolled people by the end of this year. DICT distributes the digital IDs, while PSA is in charge of ID cards.

The DICT is also considering how to enable the use of digital IDs by Filipinos who do not possess smart phones or have internet access, reports the Philippine News Agency.

The PSA said in June update that 33.4 million physical ID cards have been distributed, and 36.8 million digital IDs.

Article Topics

biometric data quality  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  DICT  |  digital ID  |  PhilID  |  Philippines  |  Philippines Statistics Authority