THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will fast-track the creation of a database for the National ID, which an official said supports financial inclusion and good governance.
During the budget hearing at the Senate last Wednesday, Private Sector Member of the Monetary Board Bruce J. Tolentino said printing of the National ID is also being hastened. Tolentino noted this is because the registration for the National ID has significantly contributed to an increase in bank-account ownership among Filipinos.
According to Tolentino, only 29 percent of adult Filipinos owned formal financial accounts in 2019. But, he said, this increased to 56 percent in 2021, indicating that bank accounts more than doubled during the 2-year period.
“The pandemic pressures saw to it that e-money ownership accounts have almost quadrupled and, working with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), we are now at the BSP: speeding up the printing of the IDs as well as the processing of the datasets that will ensure that those who now have the biometrics can be issued the ID and the ID number as programmed by the Neda [National Economic and Development Authority],” Tolentino said.
From zero
IN the same Senate hearing, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan also said the National ID registration has led to the creation of accounts with the LandBank of the Philippines from zero to 8.3 million.
Balisacan said the National ID will also allow farmers to get an official ID, which will increase their access to social services.
The target of the National ID is to cover 50 million by the end of the year and 92 million by 2023. Balisacan said government is prioritizing beneficiaries of social protection programs as National ID registrants.
“The [National ID is] the only ID that will be required; and that will facilitate their access (to various services),” Balisacan said.
During the hearing at the Upper House, Senator Joel Villanueva said 7 out of 10 farmers and agriculture workers do not have financial service accounts. He said this highlights the importance of ensuring that financial inclusion efforts include farmers.
Villanueva noted that since the Department of Agriculture is receiving a hefty budget allocation, farmers can access more funds. However, the solon said, accessing these would mean having official financial accounts.
As of August 12, PSA data showed 71.713 million Filipinos have completed Step 2 of the National ID registration process. Step 2 gathers biometric information from registrants.
Of this number, a total of 18.633 million Filipinos completed Step 2 between January and August 2022. This is 53.5 percent of the 34.9 million target for the first three quarters of the year.