Conclusion
Personal registration by the citizen or resident alien shall be made at the following registration centers: (1) Philippine Statistics Authority Regional and Provincial Offices; (2) Local Civil Registry Offices; (3) Government Service Insurance System for its members and their dependents; (4) Social Security System for its members and their dependents; (5) Philippine Health Insurance Corp.; 6) Home Development Mutual Fund; (7) Commission on Elections; (8) Philippine Postal Corp.; and (9) other government agencies and GOCCs as may be assigned by the PSA (Section 8, IRR).
The
PSA said in a statement that pilot test registrations will run from September
2019 to June 2020. Registration will be scaled up and open to the public by
July 2020. Overseas Filipinos are targeted to be registered by 2021. The
government has assured that citizens who have nothing to hide have nothing to
fear about the new ID system. Leftist groups have raised a howl against
possible government abuse as the personal data gathered can allegedly be used
to muzzle dissent and
trample on the rights of the critics of the administration.
The Supreme Court in the case of Ople v. Torres (July 23, 1998) struck down as unconstitutional then-President Fidel V. Ramos’s Administrative Order 308 which sought to implement a comprehensive ID reference system. The SC ruled that (a) it was not within the President’s power to do so as his AO would not be merely implementing existing laws but would “redefine some basic rights of citizens” (b) the AO lacked safeguards on peoples’ right to privacy.
According to the PSA, the IRR has provisions for protection against unlawful disclosure of information/records (Rule 5, Section 21) and privacy, security and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the PhilSys (Rule 5, Section 22). The Data Privacy Act of 2012 and the PhilSys Act (incorporated by reference in RA 11055) have strict controls over what circumstances the data in the PhilSys registry can be accessed and shared. Furthermore, the Privacy-by-Designs-features ensure that PSN holders have full control over the access and use of their personal data.
The present ID System is not by Executive/Administrative Order from the President. It is legislated by Congress. The “wisdom” of the law is, however, not a justiciable issue and may fall under “political question” which the SC, more often than not, will not rule on. However, the issue of privacy intrusion and violation of the fundamental rights can be tested in the SC, the final arbiter of what is constitutional or not. For the meantime, what the current administration has to work on is the issue of trust. Can our people trust that this government will not use the data gathered for witch hunting purposes and stifling dissent?
Sadly, trust cannot be legislated. It has to be earned!