The bill on establishing a universal identification system for Filipinos is now on its third and final reading after the House committee approved it on September 8.
With 142 in favor and seven against it, the House Bill (HB) No. 6221 will proceed to the Senate for its final approval.
If the bill is approved into law, the government will establish a unified national identification system called the “FilSys”.
The FilSys will provide a card with an electronic chip containing personal information of a citizen including date of birth, place of birth, permanent address, marital status, blood type, parents’ full name, biometrics information, height, weight in kilograms, distinguishing features and tax identification number.
The card will also have voter’s identification number, Philippine passport number, PhilHealth and a like.
The roll-out of national ID system will have a Php2 billion budget in 2018, according to Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua.
The bill also states that a Filipino citizen are required to acquire the card at the age of 18, whether residing in the Philippines or other country.
“Such data shall be limited to the extent necessary for the purpose or function” of the card, “as determined by the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority), in coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) and other implementing agencies,” the bill reads.
There were previous attempts under past administrations to have a national ID system, which all failed to get an approval for privacy reasons.
Photo credit: International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines
Source: Manila Times
