On August 6, 2018, President
Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11055 known as the “Philippine
Identification System
Act.” The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), pursuant to its mandate to
carry out the provisions of RA 11O55, pro-mulgated the implementing rules and
regulation (IRR) on October 5, 2018.
This IRR shall apply to all persons in the creation, operation and maintenance of the Philippine Identification System, the registration in PhilSys and in all transactions where the PhilSys Number (PSN), Philippine Identification Card (PhilID), or biometric information is required, presented, or used, whether legally or illegally, within or outside the Republic of the Philippines (Section 2, IRR).
The objectives of this IRR are
stipulated under Section 2 (Declaration of Policies) and Section 3 (Objectives)
of the Philippine
Identification System Act, to wit:
a. To establish a single identification system for all citizens and resident aliens;
b. To provide a valid proof of identity for all citizens and resident aliens as a means of simplifying public and private transactions;
c. To eliminate the need to present other forms of identification when transacting with the government and the private sector, subject to the appropriate authentication measures based on biometric identification system;
d. To be a social and economic platform through which all transactions including public and private services can be availed; and
e. To promote seamless service delivery, enhancing administrative governance, reducing corruption, strengthening financial inclusion, and promoting ease of doing business (Section 3, IRR).
“Citizen” refers to a Filipino citizen, as defined in the Constitution, including those with dual or multiple citizenships, in accordance with RA 9225, otherwise known as the “Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act 2003” (Section 4 [e], IRR).
“Resident Alien” refers to an individual who is not a citizen of the Philippines, but has the appropriate immigrant visa or established residence in the Philippines for an aggregate period of more than 180 days and is in possession of Alien Certificate of Registration I-Card (Section 4 [o], IRR).
The PhilSys shall have the following key components:
A. PhilSys Number—The PSN is a randomly generated, unique and permanent identification number that will be assigned to every citizen or resident alien upon birth or registration by the PSA, in accordance with the registration process provided in this IRR. All government agencies, including government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) shall incorporate in their identification systems and databases the PSN, or its derivative, of covered individuals which shall be the standard number for the individual across all agencies of the government.
The PSN shall not be predetermined or preassigned to any individual. Neither shall any individual be allowed to choose his or her PSN. No person shall have more than one PSN. The PSN, in print, electronic, subject to authentication, shall be accepted as sufficient proof of identity.
B. PhilSys Registry—The PhilSys Registry contains the PSN, the registered records, record history, and registered information of all registered persons in the PhilSys. Registered records shall pertain to electronic copies of completed application forms submitted during registration and succeeding updates. The information in the PhilSys Registry shall be classified in a manner that allows safeguards for data privacy and security, access controls, and change management, as set in this IRR (Section 5, IRR).
The PhilID is a nontransferable card and shall be the physical medium issued to convey essential information about the person’s identity containing on its face his or her PSA, full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type, permanent address, present address (optional), Filipino or Resident Alien, Marital status (optional), mobile number (optional), and a front-facing photograph (Section 6-C [1], IRR, Section 7, IRR).
The Phil ID shall serve as the official government-issued identification document of cardholders in dealing with all national government agencies, local government units (LGUs), GOCCs, government financial institutions (GFIs), State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), and all private-sector entities.
The initial application and issuance, as well as the renewal (i.e., replacement arising from recapturing or updating of biometric information) shall be free of charge for citizens. Resident aliens shall be subject to schedule of fees issued by the PSA (Section 6-C [3], IRR).
To be continued