The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday, June 24, unveiled the different features of the Philippine Identification card or PhilID as it aims to ramp up its rollout and delivery throughout the country.
PSA said the presentation of the PhilID focused on the key security features to ensure the protection of each cardholder against identity theft and other types of counterfeiting.
The front of the PhilID contains the cardholder’s front-facing photograph and basic demographic information in print, such as their full name, date of birth, and residence address.
It also carries covert features that cannot be replicated to ensure the card’s security and authenticity, such as the ID’s guilloche design, microprinted texts, and color-shifting prints.
The front card design of the PhilID also showcases the PhilSys Card Number (PCN), which only serves as the serial number for the physical ID card and is different from the registrant’s PhilSys Number (PSN).
Should a cardholder report a missing ID card, he or she will get a new PCN along with a new PhilID but the PSN will be retained, PSA explained.
The PSN is a randomly generated combination of numbers that serves as a permanent digital identification and is unique to each registrant.
The back design of the PhilID includes the rest of the cardholder’s demographic information such as their sex, blood type, marital status, and place of birth. This part of the ID also displays a QR code that can be scanned to determine the cardholder’s PSN, a barcode for the card’s serial number, and a microprint of the PSN.
The PSA has partnered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to produce the PhilID cards, while the Philippine Postal Corporation or PHLPost will facilitate the door-to-door delivery to the registrants.
As of June 17, 2021, a total of 561,042 PhilID cards are ready for delivery.
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PSA has already urged government agencies and private businesses to acknowledge the PhilID as primary identification in accordance with Republic Act No. 11055 or the PhilSys Act.