Over 79 million Filipinos now registered with nat’l ID system

MANILA – More than 79 million Filipinos already registered to the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday, June 1.

In a briefing, PSA Deputy National Statistician Fred Sollesta said total PhilSys registration already reached 79.12 million.

Sollesta said printed IDs already reached 37.73 million, adding these were already turned over to Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost).

"Out of that, they were able to deliver 31.95 million or close to 32 million and then for PSA, we complemented this by issuing credentials through the ePhilID (electronic Philippine IDs) which is 34.53 million as of May 26," he said.

So far, the total ID credentials that PSA distributed or delivered is at 66.48 million. The PSA implemented the ePhilID last year. The downloadable version of the ePhilID provides registered persons access to a portable document format (PDF) copy of their ePhilID which they can store on their mobile devices.

"We did this to accelerate the issuance of PhilSys credentials. [The ePhilID] also has a QR (quick response) code, they can use it for transactions and to prove identity and age. So by giving those, we are able to close the big gap between the registration and the issuance of credentials," Sollesta said.

"But we assure all the citizens that all those who registered in the national ID will also receive the physical card which is printed at [the] BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)." Sollesta said the PSA and the

BSP are currently in talks to accelerate the printing of IDs.

“And we are also studying some options to accelerate and to make sure that if [printing] will not be finished within this year, then next year we have a good chance to complete the distribution and production of physical cards," he said.

Sollesta said the PSA is hoping to deliver within this month the national IDs earlier affected by the fire in Philippine Post Office. He said PHLPost reported that 7,500 cards were affected.

"We would like to clarify that the cards affected were only cards for Manila City. They have already forwarded the information, including data of the cards affected. We target that sometime in June, we will release these to PHLPost so that these will be delivered to registrants," Sollesta added. (PNA)

MANILA – Several members of the diplomatic community in the Philippines have expressed concern over the killing of radio broadcaster Cresenciano Bunduquin, who was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding suspects in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro on Wednesday, May 31.

The United States Embassy in Manila on Thursday stressed that protection of media freedom is an “integral element” of democracy.

But it welcomed the swift action of local authorities to investigate the case and echoed the statement issued by both the Canadian and the Netherlands Embassies, who are co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition in the Philippines. Canada and the Netherlands underscored the need to safeguard media freedom to allow journalists to work without fearing for their lives and called on the government to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable.

“Attacks on media workers must be urgently investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable,” the joint statement read.

“As co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition, we welcome swift action of law enforcement agencies to investigate Mr. Bunduquin’s death and urge Philippine authorities to take concrete steps to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” it added.

Also joining the two countries in condemning the killing were the Embassies of Czech Repub-