ILOILO City – More than half a million individuals from the four priority provinces in Western Visayas have taken the first step of the registration phase for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Ninety percent of the expected respondents for three weeks were pre-registered, which is close to 520,000, according to Director Marlene Alviar of PSA-6.
PSA targeted to pre-register a minimum of 535,451 low-income household heads and members in three weeks beginning Oct. 12.
However, the recent typhoons that affected northern Iloilo and portions of Capiz delayed the activity.
In Negros Occidental, these were hampered by restrictions due to the health pandemic.
“Barring unforeseen circumstances, we hope to complete it in time for the deadline. We are happy to say that our registration officers are trying to cope with the target,” Alviar said.
A total of 1,963,321 low-income household heads and members from four provinces in Western Visayas, who belong to the bottom 40 percent of the population in terms of income based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, have been chosen for the pre-registration.
The target included 222,250 in Antique, 278,408 in Capiz, 808, 387 from Negros Occidental and 654, 276 from Iloilo.
The PSA tapped 809 enumerators to do house-to-house pre-registration to collect demographic information as part of the PhilSys Step 1 registration.
Alviar said the pre-registration is the first step so that the registration on Nov. 25 would be easier.
During the Step 1, the respondents are asked for their demographic information to include full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type, nationality, address, marital status (optional), cellphone number (optional) and email address (optional).
During the Step 2 of the registration, only their picture, biometrics and fingerprint will be captured.
“Afterwards, they can already receive their ID,” she added.
She said the PhilSys ID can be used as proof of identity. It will also serve as their digital ID that they can use when processing claims and assistance from the government. (With a report from PNA/PN)
