The chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on Monday asked the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to start studying the implementation of the proposed national ID system.
Panel Chairman Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of the First District of Davao City said that although Bicameral Conference Committee action still stands in the way of the measure’s enactment, the PSA could already start the process by tapping the P2-billion budget for the national ID system that had been earmarked under the 2018, P3.767-trillion
national budget.
The proposed national ID system Act is currently under the congressional bicameral conference deliberations.
The House and Senate versions of a given measure is consolidated or improved under a Bicameral Conference Committee. After that, the proposed law is ratified and then readied for the signature of the President.
According to Nograles, the lower chamber assured the funds for the measure as early as June 2017, when deliberations on the 2018 national budget were yet to start.
“Let us remind the PSA to implement the measure using the budget of P2 billion we allocated for 2018. The figure is broken down as follows: P1.9 billion for Capital Outlay [CO] and P100 million for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses [MOOE],” he said.