Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera wants to know: What’s the hold-up in the issuance of national identification cards (IDs)?
“Bakit po umaabot ng taon para ma-issue ang national ID (Why does it take up to a year to issue the national IDs?)... We have put up a lot of funds for this,” Herrera asked the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
She asked this during the plenary debate on NEDA's budget Wednesday, Sept. 28. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)–the agency responsible for the national ID project–is an attached agency of NEDA.
The NEDA budget sponsor, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo, attributed the delay to faulty printers but added that the target for full issuance of all national IDs was up to June 2023.
“Nagkaroon po ng problema sa printers nung start ng project so kinulang ang ating (There was a problem with the printers at the start of the project so we lacked the) printing capacity so to address that, dadagdagan po ng dalawang additional printers (two printers were added),” Quimbo responded.
Quimbo previously mentioned this during the NEDA budget's first go-round in the House plenary last Sept. 21.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/21/20m-national-ids-issued-to-pinoys/
Herrera, however, was unsatisfied with the answer. According to her, faulty printers on the suppliers’ end was not an “acceptable excuse".
She then asked what the punishment for these erring suppliers would be.
“Sa ngayon, nire-review ng abogado ng PSA ang (For now, the lawyers of the PSA are reviewing the) service level agreement...the potential liabilities are being reviewed,” Quimbo said.
Herrera shared her own experience in trying to acquire a national ID.
“Nag-national ID po ako sa aming (I applied for a national ID in my) barangay sometime in March or April but until now, September of 2022, I still haven’t received my national ID,” the party-list solon said.