Over 7,352 Philippine Identification (PhilID) cards that were destroyed in the Manila Central Post Office fire have been reprinted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) free of charge for all recipients.

In a statement, the PSA said the fire-affected PhilID cards were printed by its partner, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and delivered to the Central Mail Exchange Center (CMEC) in Pasay City.

Moving forward, the Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) will take charge of delivering the replacement PhilID cards, the PSA said.

“We thank the BSP and PHLPost, our partners in the implementation of PhilSys, for their unwavering commitment to swiftly replace the affected PhilIDs to ensure that the rightful owners can enjoy the benefits of being PhilSys-registered,” PSA Undersecretary Claire Dennis S. Mapa said.

He also guaranteed that the PhilIDs ravaged by the post office incident were for the registered Manila residents only. The rest of the PhilIDs are already at the CMEC.

In May, a fire at the Manila Central Post Office caused by a car battery explosion resulted in significant damage and the loss of mail, parcels, data, and PSA's national IDs.

Since then, PSA, BSP, and PHLPost have worked quickly to resume operations and deliver the IDs to registered individuals across the country. (Gabriell Christel Galang)