The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will use the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) to identify and verify its beneficiaries of various social protection services and welfare programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program.
The agency’s adoption of PhilSys for the identification and verification of program beneficiaries was arrived at following the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the DSWD.
The MOA provides the pilot testing through 4Ps and AICS program, along with gradual integration of PhilSys Annual Poverty Indicator (API)-enabled services into all DSWD programs over three years.
With the signing of MOA, the DSWD became the first national government agency to adopt PhilSys for authentication of its program beneficiaries.
"With the Philsys-enabled services adopted in the said programs, we strive to promote seamless service delivery in order to improve the efficiency, and transparency of our social protection programs. It is also a step towards financial inclusion for our beneficiaries and clients,” DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista said in a statement on Monday, Sept. 27.
He noted that the Philsys ID, as a valid proof of identity, is easily accessible to everyone. “It opens a lot of opportunities for the unbanked poor and vulnerable sectors particularly on easier registration with the bank and other financial institutions of their choice, therefore expanding their access to social and financial services,” he added.
The DSWD said through the adoption of PhilSys, its social protection delivery will be enhanced, benefiting its program beneficiaries.
“The benefits of PhilSys adoption include digitizing and streamlining DSWD’s beneficiary registration; establishing a United Beneficiary Database (UBD); identifying and removing duplicate or ghost beneficiaries; and enabling financial inclusion and digital payments,” it said.
Among the other benefits are the following: use of biometric verification through the PhilSys and offline verification through the PhilID card; enrollment of future beneficiaries into programs using PhilSys e-KYC; and uniquely identifying beneficiary records by seeding PhilSys Number (PSN) tokens.
“As a result, DSWD will provide benefits more quickly to intended beneficiaries while preventing fraud and leakages. This also means that DSWD will be better prepared for future responses to crises and natural disasters. At the same time, program beneficiaries will find social assistance services much more accessible with a streamlined process,” the DSWD said.
PSA National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Undersecretary Dennis S. Mapa described the PSA’s partnership with the DSWD as a “breakthrough in giving a more strengthened financial inclusivity for public services.”
He said the partnership will allow PhilSys to achieve one of its goals, that is to quickly deliver services to the public through the programs under the DSWD.
"As the PhilSys continues to expand its implementation, may this partnership encourage other government agencies and private institutions to work hand-in-hand with the PSA to cater the public with easier access to other various private and public services.”
The DSWD program beneficiaries who have not yet registered to PhilSys have been urged to proceed to complete their Step 1 Registration, or the collection of the registrants’ demographic information and booking of an appointment for Step 2, by visiting https://register.philsys.gov.ph.
Step 2 Registration involves the verification of the registrants’ demographic information and capture of their biometric data.
The PSA said it continues to gradually open more registration centers nationwide to make this step available for more Filipinos. The final step to PhilSys registration is the issuance of the unique and private PhilSys Number (PSN) and the physical ID card (PhilID).
“PSA advises registrants to safeguard their 12-digit PSNs as it is highly sensitive information, and to instead use their 16-digit PhilSys Card Number (PCN) printed on the face of the card.”
For latest information on PhilSys, program beneficiaries and the public may visit the official PhilSys website (www.psa.gov.ph/philsys) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/PSAPhilSysOfficial/). They may also reach the PhilSys Registry Office via hotline number 1388 or e-mail at [email protected].