Malacañang announced that among President Duterte’s current priorities is the immediate implementation of Republic Act 11055 or the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Act in order to speed up the provision of aid and services rendered by government institutions.
Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque stated that President Duterte has expressed his confidence that delays on providing financial assistance will be avoided once PhilSys is implemented nationwide.
“Ang primary consideration po kung bakit binibigyan ng prayoridad ng Presidente ang national ID system ay yung pagbibigay po ng ayuda sa panahon ng krisis,” said Secretary Roque.
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President Duterte signed the PhilSys Act way back in August 6, 2018 giving each Filipino citizen and resident aliens in the Philippines a valid proof of identity by issuing each person their very own PhilID – coined as the national identification card of PhilSys.
One of Duterte’s marching orders to acting National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) acting Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua in April was to hasten the implementation of the PhilSys Act.
Roque said Duterte’s directive to Chua was meant to ensure that Filipinos would no longer experience any delays in the delivery of social services.
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“Dahil kung meron tayong national ID system, hindi na sana naantala ‘yung pagbibigay ng ayuda sa ating mga kababayan (Because had we implemented the national ID system, the distribution of assistance to our fellow countrymen would have been faster),” he said.
RA 11055 designates the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which is under NEDA, as the primary implementing agency to carry out the provisions of the law.
The PSA aims to register around five million poor families for the PhilSys by December this year to make the distribution of government’s assistance more efficient.
