Amid public concern about the national identification cards, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that it is processing 60,000 IDs from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which are expected to be delivered to registrants.
Claire Dennis Mapa, the PSA undersecretary and national statistician, said that the agency has already met with alternative service providers to address the printing supply.
“We expect to start decentralized printing at the PSA’s provincial offices in the latter part of this year,” Mapa told Manila Bulletin.
“The PSA is committed to print and deliver the physical national IDs to all registrants, even if they can already use the two other credentials for transactions with government and private entities,” he added.
Presently, the PSA recorded 90.5 million Filipinos registered at the National ID, 55.5 million printed cards, and 53.8 million IDs that have been given to the registrants.
Mapa assured that 1.7 million physical cards are already in transit and will be delivered by the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPOST) and the PSA personnel.
Paper National IDs (ePhilIDs) on the other hand, have been presented to around 46 million people, while there are 18.4 million users that can access their digital IDs.
“So 53.8 physical national IDs, plus 46 million ephilids and 18.4 million digital national IDs are now in the hands of the registrants. Thus, most (if not all) of the registrants have at least one of the 3 credentials,” Mapa explained.