Cebu to pilot test national ID

The national ID cannot be used in place of the driver’s license issued by the Land Transportation Office.

The City of Cebu and other urban cities in Central Visayas were selected as pilot areas for the implementation of the National Identification (ID) system recently signed into law by President Rodrigo Roa Dutete.

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) regional information officer Noel Rafols disclosed this to the local media yesterday.

The provinces of Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol and Siquijor along with major cities like Cebu, Dumaguete and Tagbilaran comprise the Central Visayas area.

“In what I understand, there’s a pilot testing to be done in strategic locations and centers. Probably, Cebu will be included for Region 7 because Cebu is a highly urbanized area,” Rafols said.

Last 6 August, Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act.

Rafols said they are still waiting for the specific guidelines from Manila on the implementation of the law.

The implementing rules and regulations of the national ID law is expected to be issued within two months. PSA is the lead agency in the implementation of the law.

“The new ID system is an all-in-one ID where demographic data from the GSIS (Government Service Insurance System), PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, Comelec (Commission on Election), and Philpost, among others, are aggregated,” said Rafols.

However, he clarified that the national ID cannot be used in place of the driver’s license issued by the Land Transportation Office or the passport issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The new national ID includes the full name of the card holder, gender, date and place of birth, blood type, address, nationality, biometrics information, front facing photograph, full set of fingerprints and iris scan of the holder.

Other information such as marital status, mobile number and email address are optional.