MONIQUE, not her real name, considers herself fortunate not to have suffered long delays in receiving her physical copy of her national identity card or PhilID from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), unlike many others.
However, his relief turned to frustration when his PhilID deteriorated after barely a year of use, despite being touted as a permanent or lifetime document.
PhilID, an integral component of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), aims to serve as a lifetime card that provides access to various benefits and those registered with PhilSys.
These benefits come with government-optimized services, monetary transactions, and social coverage programs.
“Lipay unta ko nga wala ko nagpaabot gyud sa akoang ID, dili parehas sa uban. But I have a nuon dali kaayo napapas akoang nawng type identity, I have approximately akong,” he told SunStar Cebu on Monday, March 25, 2024.
(I’m glad I didn’t wait too long to get my ID card, unlike others. But my face and data were erased from the ID card too quickly. )
The 20-year-old student from Bogo City, Cebu, said remittance centers refused to recognize her transaction on her national ID card when she claimed her allowance from her parents because her photograph and some of her information had peeled off.
As a result, he finds identification “not very helpful and burdensome” in offering convenience and assistance.
Replacement
Managing Director Edwina Carriaga of PSA 7 said other people like Monique had nothing to worry about as they were eligible to get a new replacement PhilID.
Carriaga told SunStar Cebu that they have already gained reported incidents of photographs and withdrawn cardholder data and replacements already published. He did, however, specify the figures.
He said it remains flexible and that Americans will have to report to the nearest PSA office, adding cashier offices in the provinces or its regional office located at Gaisano Capital Mall in Colon St. , Cebu City.
Upon arrival at the office, the cardholder will need to provide the stripped PhilID, fill out a replacement form, and send it to the check-in manager along with the returned ID.
Carriaga added that since the cardholder has already entered their biometric data, such as their personal knowledge and photograph, as well as iris scans, they are required to review them again.
The official made it clear that there is no popular waiting time for the issuance of replacement ID cards, stating, “We cannot [the deadline] as replacement is a meticulous procedure and requires extensive procedures, especially since the user has already earned an identity piece beforehand.
A query with the PhilSys online page shows that the problem of stripped images arose even earlier this year, as the PSA announced in March 2023 that it had begun replacing PhilIDs with stripped images. In January 2024, he reiterated his call to other people facing this challenge to have their cards replaced.
Cannot be applied
Carriaga said that at the moment, only other people with broken PhilID can apply for a replacement, not those who have lost their ID card.
A PhilID is broken or defective if its cover has peeled off, if the photo is blurry or does not fit the cardholder, or if it has been erased causing certain mentions to be removed.
According to a March 15 SunStar Cebu report, the number of PhilSys registrations in the region reached 6,521,136 as of December 31, 2023.
In the region, Cebu leads with 4,140,045 registrations, followed by Negros Oriental with 1,150,746, Bohol with 1,139,677 and Siquijor with 90,668 registrations.
At least 4,343,723 PhilIDs (physical ID cards) were issued, accounting for 66% of the total number of people registered, while 2,243,106 ePhilIDs were issued.
The ePhilID allows more Filipinos to get the benefits of PhilSys registration without delay, even without receiving the physical card. The ePhilID is the virtual edition of the PhilID.
The Beginnings
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11055, also known as the Philippine Identification System Act, in August 2018. It mandates the production of the national identity card as the government’s number one identity platform for all Filipino citizens and resident aliens, in addition to foreigners who have resided in the Philippines for at least one year.
For Filipino citizens, the PhilID does not expire. But it will be renewed when demographic and biometric data is updated. In particular, young people under the age of five at the time of registration will be required to update and retrieve their biometric data when they turn 15.
For resident aliens, the PhilID is valid for one year and renewal is annual.
Budget
According to an October 2020 report via a national media outlet, the multi-year implementation of PhilSys and the National Identification Project would require the government to allocate only about 27. 8 billion pesos.
National statistician Dennis Mapa revealed in a virtual press conference that the 27. 8 billion pesos would be allocated to a variety of purposes, adding the hiring of enumerators to collect census knowledge door-to-door, the purchase of devices for knowledge collection, the implementation of an automated biometric identity system, security of a system integrator’s facilities, and strengthening cybersecurity measures.
According to the PSA, the PhilSys registry began in October 2020 with low-income space reserves in 32 provinces that were considered to have low coronavirus disease threat in 2019, when the Covid-19 pandemic was raging at the time. from space to space to collect the demographics of registrants.
The second level of registration, which consisted of validating supporting documents and collecting biometric data such as iris scans, fingerprints, and photographs, began in January 2021.
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