A Laguna solon who shepherded the law on the national identification system has lauded the move by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to shoulder the cost of producing the ID cards.
This after the BSP signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Monday to produce blank cards for IDs under the Philippine Identification System.
The ID is crucial in providing Filipinos with access to government and financial services.
This development would weed out possible corruption and ensure that the IDs are rolled out sooner, said Laguna 3rd District Rep. Sol Aragones.
Aragones chaired the House Committee on Population and Family Relations that spearheaded the deliberations for the passage on August 2018 of Republic Act No. 11055 or the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Act during the 17th Congress.
“Makakatulong ito para makaiwas sa corruption at mapabilis ang implementasyon ng batas. So this is great news so that we can implement the PhilSys law as soon as possible,” the solon said.
The BSP announced that it has set aside P3.4 billion for the production of 116 million blank cards, or amounting to P30 per card, that will be issued until 2022. The total projected cost is P30 billion.
Aragones reiterated the need to produce the IDs at the soonest possible time, which she said are crucial in providing Filipinos with access to government and financial services.
The PhilSys simplifies the processes for services offered both by the government and private companies, said Aragones, as only one ID would be required instead of the usual two, which millions of Filipinos do not have.
The World Bank’s Identification for Development initiative reports that over 16.3 million Filipinos do not have proof of identity, which hinders them from availing of government and financial services.
“Napakaganda pong batas nito na makakatulong lalo na sa mga magsasaka’t mangingisda natin para makalapit sila sa pamahalaan at sa mga bangko para sa mga loan.
Hindi na sila mabibiktima ng mga loan shark at pa-5-6 para makapag-operate,” she said.