THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) plans to print Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) ID cards in its provincial offices following the termination of the contract with the national ID card supplier.
PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa said that around 34.5 million physical national IDs are yet to be printed.
After the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas terminated the contract with ID card supplier AllCard Inc., the central bank gave the go signal to the PSA to explore alternatives to fast-track the production of national ID cards.
“The PSA initiated engagement with alternative service providers to print the remaining physical national ID. We expect to start decentralized printing (at the PSA’s provincial offices) in the latter part of this year,” Mapa said.
Some 90 million Filipinos have registered with the PhilSys, with 55.5 million physical national already IDs printed according to PSA. A total of 53.8 million physical national ID cards have been delivered nationwide while 1.7 million physical national ID cards are being delivered by PSA and Philippine Postal Corporation.
“The PSA is committed to print and deliver the physical national IDs to all registrants, even if they can already use the two other credentials for transactions with government and private entities,” Mapa said.
Aside from national ID cards, the government has issued 46 million ePhilIDs and 18.4 million Digital National IDs which have the same functionality and validity as the physical card. (ABS-CBN News)
