Philippines national biometric authentication program presents business opportunity

The Philippines’ national ID system and expanding use of biometrics presents a growing opportunity for providers of the associated technologies, even as the system works out some kinks.

The Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost) owes Filmetrics Corporation 47.2 million Philippine pesos (approximately US$820,000) for its delivery and installation of the biometric data service facility (BDSF) back in 2010. The ruling was handed down by the Philippines’ Commission on Audit (COA) this week, the Manila Bulletin reports.

PhilPost and Filmetrics set up a joint venture to roll the BDSF out across the country, with PhilPost licensed to use the system internally. The BDSF was also used by the Postal Identification (PID) and Social Security System (SSS) Unified Multi-Purpose Identification (UMID) Card Biometrics Capture Projects through PhilPost.

Filmetrics demanded payment for its share in the PID and SSS contracts under the joint venture agreement, but PhilPost argued that the agreement had expired. An extension granted by a former PhilPost official was ruled invalid, but the COA said the work had clearly been completed with no payment rendered.

Filmetrics had demanded P63.5 million ($1.1 million) in compensation, but COA found it lacks jurisdiction to award attorneys fees and legal costs.

Opportunity for identity verification

The rapid growth of the Philippines’ digital economy makes it an attractive market for providers of services like digital identity verification, British Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils says. The comment came during a visit by a dozen UK companies, including Sumsub and Synectics, to the country, BusinessWorld reports.

The biometric authentication service built into the country’s national ID system is a strength that differentiates it from other IDs, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) posits in a web post.

The government has been running Family Development Sessions (FDS) with fingerprint and face biometric authentication to add beneficiaries to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). More than 2.5 million beneficiaries had been authenticated in FDS as of the end of 2024.

PSA officials are also encouraging government offices and businesses to use the biometric authentication service for faster PhilSys and PhilID verifications in government publication PIA.

The service does not require a PhilID card, but PSA is planning to launch ID card printing in all 82 of the country’s provinces by the end of the year to speed up issuance.

The Philippines has registered 84 million people for its national digital ID so far, and it has been used in over 100 million public and private-sector transactions.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Filmetrics  |  identity verification  |  national ID  |  Philippines  |  Philippines Statistics Authority  |  Sumsub  |  Synectics Solutions