Greater public awareness on the Philippine Identification (PhilID)  or national ID card is needed so that its intended purpose of facilitating and ensuring the security of essential transactions may be achieved.

In 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic was still rampant, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) urged government frontline agencies and private banks – or those that have extensive dealings with the public – to recognize the PhilID as sufficient proof of identity of people transacting business with them. Three years earlier, on Aug. 6, 2018, the Philippine Identification System Act, or Republic Act No. 11055, was signed into law by then President Rodrigo Duterte.

According to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Undersecretary Claire Dennis S. Mapa, who is also the National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, as of  Jan. 5, 2024, a total of 83,108,610 Filipinos have successfully registered to PhilSys. A month earlier, PSA reported that a total of 48,468,858 PhilIDs have been dispatched for delivery – of which, 45,173,021 have been delivered.

The national ID system was proposed during the Ramos administration in the early 90s, but ran into opposition mostly from civil libertarians who were concerned about possible infringement of privacy rights and indiscriminate surveillance of citizens affiliated with activist organizations.

Proponents led by then Senator Panfilo Lacson, who also served as Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), pointed out that a national ID would be a great help to law enforcement agencies in tackling criminality, and in reducing bureaucratic red tape. The enactment of the Data Privacy Act of 2012 provided guardrails to ensure the security and protection of personal data – and this eventually led to a consensus among lawmakers that it was time to provide every Filipino a national ID card.

Despite repeated assurances from the PSA, it has been reported that some government agencies and private banking institutions still do not recognize the PhilID in financial transactions. Apparently, there is insufficient awareness – even among those in government – about the advantages of using the national ID.

PSA’s Feb. 1, 2024 post in its website provides an updated advisory: “As a digital identification system, PhilSys moves past traditional ways of verifying identity such as handwritten signatures or identification cards that can easily be faked. Instead, identity verification is done by referring to the registered person’s unique demographic and biometric information in PhilSys.”

On concerns that it does not bear the signature of the ID holder, PSA points out why this is not necessary:

“PhilSys Check utilizes the unique digital signature embedded in the QR code feature at the back of the PhilID and ePhilID. Through PhilSys Check, the possibility of fraudulent transactions can be averted as results will show any of the following: (1) ‘PhilID or ePhilID has been verified’ if the QR code contains a valid digital signature; (2) ‘Deactivated card’ if the PhilID or ePhilID is not active; and (3) ‘QR Code could not be read’ if it is damaged, tampered with, or not from the PhilID or ePhilID…The PhilSys Check can be accessed at verify.philsys.gov.ph using the web browser of a computer, laptop, or smartphone.” 

Filipinos must now step up and use their PhilID regularly, and be assured of the security of essential transactions.