Thursday, September 12, 2019

No ID, No Entry

Editor’s note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft.


A newspaper report quoted NEDA Secretary Ernesto Pernia as claiming that a National ID System — which in our case, rolls out this month — will help curb leakages in the government’s cash transfer programs as it can help better identify “deserving beneficiaries” and also correct the “lag between the need of the citizens who merit assistance, and the provision of the budget.”

In this line, I urge the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to hype up its pilot registration for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) that starts this September, so that it can achieve its target of having the entire population registered before the end of 2022. Many still lack valid proof of identity that contains both basic personal information and biometric data.

It is bewildering how some private enterprises go about checking one’s identity in line with their own security protocols. In my opinion, some of these protocols defy logic. And since there doesn’t seem to be any government-set standards for such processes, there is no opportunity or recourse to question them. The use of a national ID can help set a standard for security checks.

Perhaps not unlike a few others, I always carry an “old” ID card for identification purposes — an expired driver’s license — when walking about the city sans wallet and credit cards. Just cash in my pocket, the old ID, house keys, and an old mobile phone. I carry the ID so that in case of an emergency or an accident, people can “identify” me.

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