With the lingering threat of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) continues the conduct of the assisted Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Step 1 Registration with a target of 14.9 million Filipinos and resident aliens from January 18, 2021 to March 31, 2021 covering all provinces nationwide.

The PSA initially rolled out the PhilSys Step 1 Registration to targeted low-income Filipinos in 32 provinces identified as “low-risk” areas for COVID-19, which began on October 12, 2020.  The PSA has committed to register 70 million Filipinos and resident aliens in the PhilSys in 2021 and to register majority of the Filipinos by end of 2022.  

In view of the commitment to prioritize the low-income population, barangays with high incidence of poverty shall be prioritized.  Under Step 1 Registration, PSA enumerators will go house-to-house and interview the target registrants to collect the ten demographic information that includes full name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, blood type, address, citizenship, marital status, mobile number, and email address using the Tablet-based Step 1 Registration System.  To maximize the visit, all members of the household shall be subjected to Step 1 Registration.  However, only those aged five years old and over shall be given a schedule for Step 2 Registration.

La Union, which was included in the initial 32 provinces of Step 1 Registration, has a target of at least 86,940 registrants for Step 1 Registration from January 18, 2021 to March 31, 2021.   PSA-La Union conducted a three-day Provincial Level Training on PhilSys 2021 Step 1 Registration on January 13-15, 2021 at Puerto de San Juan Beach Resort Hotel, San Juan, La Union to equip the hired 23 enumerators and five team supervisors with knowledge and first-hand experience necessary for the conduct of Step 1 Registration.  Aside from familiarizing the participants with Republic Act (RA) No. 11055 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), key concepts and definition of terms, and guidelines related to PhilSys, the participants were also oriented to abide with health and safety protocols during field operation to mitigate risks related COVID-19.

RA No. 11055, otherwise known as PhilSys Act, aims to establish a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens of the Republic of the Philippines.   Signed into law by President Rodrigo RoaDuterte on August 6, 2018, the PhilSys aims to simplify public and private transactions and become a social and economic platform which serves as a link in the promotion of seamless service delivery, enhancing administrative governance, reducing corruption, strengthening financial inclusion, and promoting ease of doing business. 

As a foundational digital ID system, the PhilSys will transform how services are delivered and accessed in the Philippines and accelerate our transition to a digital economy, including to enable presenceless, paperless and cashless transactions.  The PhilSys ID is intended to provide a person with a valid proof of identity.  The core function of the PhilSys is identity authentication and any process such as downloading of benefits and identification for government aids remain fully with the implementing agency.

Built on a Privacy-by-Design principle, the PhilSys will adopt the latest technologies and innovations in the implementation of the project underscoring the importance of privacy of individuals and security of information under the system.  The implementation of PhilSys is anchored with the whole-of-government approach to ensure that the Data Privacy Act of 2012 is strictly observed. ###

SGD. DANITES E. TEÑIDO, Ph.D.
Chief Statistical Specialist