By Genalyn Kabiling
The government is targeting to register five million heads of low-income households in the national identification program by December 2020 to help improve the distribution of relief assistance in the future, President Duterte said in his latest weekly report to Congress.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte addresses the nation on the government's efforts against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on April 16, 2020.( KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO/MANILA BULLETIN)
In line with efforts to hasten the implementation of the national ID system, the President said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) aims to start the mass registration by October 2020.
"The Philippine Statistics Authority is fast-tracking the full implementation of the Philippine Identification System to improve future targeting and distributing of financial assistance to poor and low-income households," the President said in his eighth weekly report to Congress on the use of his additional powers to combat the coronavirus outbreak under the Bayanihan law.
"Following prescribed health standards, the PSA targets to safely register at least five million household heads from low-income households by December 2020," he said.
Duterte said the PSA intends to launch 6,500 registration kits in 46 fixed registration centers and 1,170 mobile registration centers across the country by October. It will also forge a partnership with Land Bank of the Philippines to use its 126 branches as registration centers of the national ID program.
The President earlier expressed his frustration that the national ID system has not been fully implemented in the two years since he signed it into law. Duterte said a single identification program could have facilitated the swift distribution of financial aid to sectors affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
He recently ordered acting National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Karl Kendrick Chua to ensure the swift implementation of the national identification system.