CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- For those who are still waiting for their national identification cards, the Philippine Statistics Authority Region 10 (PSA-10) has started releasing the printable electronic Philippine Identification (ePhilID) in Northern Mindanao.
In a PSA public advisory on October 5, the said development will make the registrants PhilSys-registered and enjoy better access to more financial and social protection services pursuant to Republic Act No. 11055 (Philippine Identification System Act of 2018).
Jose Tuason Jr., the PSA-10 Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) focal person, said in a phone interview on Friday, Oct. 7, that the people can get their printable ePhilIDs by setting an online appointment through this link (https://trn-verifier.philsys.gov.ph) using their transaction slip that had been given by the PSA during the step 2 of PhilSys registration.
“After they opened the link and entered their transaction number that can be seen in the transaction slip, they will know if they can proceed with the online appointment or not,” Tuason said.
“They should not be worried as we are still continuing the process of printing the physical card of the national ID,” he added.
The PSA Northern Mindanao started accommodating individuals who have online appointments on October 5, specifically in the PhilSys Registration Center (PRC) near their regional office here in Cagayan de Oro.
The other PRCs in the region are also ready, however, they are still waiting for a go signal before they can start accommodating.
The printed ePhilID shows the person's PhilSys Card Number (PCN) and basic demographic information such as last name, given name, middle name and suffix (if available), sex, blood type, marital status (if declared), date and place of birth, front-facing photograph, address, generation date, and a QR Code.
According to the PSA advisory posted on its website, the QR code contains select demographic details and the registrant's front-facing photograph for easier verification.
It also uses public-private key cryptography to ensure that the information in the QR code cannot be tampered with.
Tuason said the government and the private establishments must accept the printable ePhilID as a valid proof of identity as it can also be authenticated by scanning the QR code via the PhilSys Check (https://verify.philsys.gov.ph/QrScan/).
If the ePhilID is authentic, the PhilSys Check will display a successful verification message and should match the demographic information found in the printed, as well as a front-facing photo of the person.
The PSA said that any person or entity who, without just and sufficient cause, refuses to accept, acknowledge, and/or recognize the printed ePhilID as the only official identification of the holder/possessor thereof shall be penalized in accordance with Section 19 of RA No. 11055.
As of July 31 this year, the PSA-10 already distributed a total of 202,842 physical PhilID cards in the region.
However, it appears that the said figure is still low as there are a total of 3,506,497 individuals – 70 percent out of the total population in the region - are registered to PhilSys as of Aug. 8 this year. The Northern Mindanao region has a total population of 5,022,768.