The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has moved to adjust the Step 2 process of the National ID registration.
This was after the PSA conducted a small-scale rollout of the Step 2 Registration in San Pablo City, Laguna, last week.
PSA Deputy National Statistician Rosalinda P. Bautista told the BusinessMirror that so far, Step 2 registration has only covered a small number of Filipinos.
“For Step 2, as a gradual rollout plan, very small number pa lang and registered and generated with PSN [PhilSys Number]. We are also doing some system adjustments due to technical issues that have been encountered,” Bautista revealed.
The PSA said a total of 218 registrants completed this step by visiting the registration center at Barangay San Marcos for the capture of their biometric information, such as fingerprints, irises and facial images.
Following the start of the Step 2 Registration in the city of San Pablo in Laguna, additional registration centers will also be opened in other areas of the city, and in the provinces of Bataan, Zambales, Batangas, Cavite, and Rizal in the succeeding weeks. The PSA aims to start the Step 2 Registration in more provinces by February 2021.
She said so far, a total of 10.5 million Filipinos have been registered under Step 1 of the National ID registration.
Bautista said Step 1 registrations will resume next week and have set a target of 14.9 million this year.
“With guidance from the PhilSys Policy and Coordination Council [PSPCC], the PSA starts the Step 2 Registration on a small-scale, gradual basis to ensure the best and safest PhilSys registration experience for Filipinos in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This allows us to ensure our system’s functionality and security before a bigger deployment, and to put in place strict health and safety protocols at our registration centers. We also aim to start the Step 1 Registration in all provinces this January,” said Undersecretary Dennis S. Mapa, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General.
In adherence to health and safety protocols, the PSA scheduled registrants who completed the Step 1 Registration in batches to manage the number of registrants at registration centers.
With their supporting document and appointment slip, Step 1 registrants are to comply with these health measures, while visiting their designated registration center on their scheduled appointment to advance to the next step.
The PSA has also partnered with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) to enable registrants to open their own bank accounts right after completion of the Step 2 Registration through LandBank branches or identified agent banking partners with assistance from participating local government units.
This co-location strategy helps achieve one of the goals of PhilSys to ensure financial inclusion for all Filipinos by providing them with a formal identification to access basic banking and other financial services, making them less vulnerable to informal and predatory lending practices that charge onerous interest rates.
The Step 2 Registration shall be followed by the final step of the registration, or the Step 3 Registration, which will include the issuance of the PSN and the PhilID.
The PSN is randomly generated and will, likewise, serve as a permanent identification number for every registrant which can be used for digital transactions. PSA partnered with PHLPost for the delivery of the PSN and PhilID to successful registrants.