Filipino children as young as one and up to four years old can now obtain their personal national ID cards.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) is now available to children as part of the government’s efforts to register more Filipinos to PhilSys, including minors.

To register a child, a parent or guardian who is already registered in PhilSys must be present, and then the PhilSys Number (PSN) or permanent identification number of the child that will be generated will be linked to the accompanying parent or guardian.

Any of the following documents must be presented to validate the demographic information of the child, according to PSA.

• Certificate of Live Birth issued by the PSA or the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO);
• Report of Birth issued by the PSA or Philippine Foreign Service Post (PFSP);
• Certificate of Foundling issued by the PSA;
• Certificate of Foundling or Certificate of Live Birth or Persons with No Known Parent/s issued by the PSA;
• Municipal Form No. 102;
• Philippine Passport or ePassport issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA);
• or any document showing the full name of the child, date and place of birth, the full name of the mother, and the full name of the father, if acknowledged.

After validating the demographic information, the child’s front face will be photographed.

When the child reaches five years old, then their complete biometric information will be captured, including the fingerprints, iris scan, and the updated front-facing photograph, PSA said.

Parents said that the national ID, as an inclusion for registering to PhilSys, will help enroll their children in a school and process their legal documents.

“Madali naman [ang registration process]. Overall, okay naman,” said Cherry Benitez, a parent from Sampaloc, Manila who has already registered her two-year-old daughter. “Balak ko gamitin ang matatanggap na [PhilID] ng anak ko sa pag-proseso ng ibang legal documents niya.”

Registration centers are open to walk-in registrations as well as mobile registration activities, which are being conducted to accommodate Filipinos residing in geographically-isolated and disadvantaged areas or for those who have no means to visit any registration centers.

There are also registration activities in public and private institutions, particularly in schools to register students or minors aged five years old and above.

PSA also reported that registration services, along with ePhilID issuance and authentication for identity verification, will now be provided to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries and their children during Family Development Sessions (FDS).

“We encourage parents and guardians to join us in taking the step towards a makabagong Pilipinas for the next generation by registering their children ages 1 to 4 to PhilSys," PSA Undersecretary Claire Dennis S. Mapa said.

"The PSA is continually making efforts to make the registration process child-friendly; our registration personnel are ready to assist our young registrants and their parents in the process,” he added.

As of March 1, a total of 84,738,963 Filipinos have been already registered to PhilSys, according to the statistics agency.

Meanwhile, a total of 50,332,413 national IDs have already been printed and dispatched for delivery; of which only 45,649,707 have been delivered to registered persons nationwide, as per the latest from PSA.

Mapa earlier said that the delay in distributing national IDs may have been caused by the failure of the private supplier of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to manufacture the IDs on time due to the surge in the number of registrants.