The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) plan for a unified identification (ID) card system for persons with disabilities will help boost the efficiency in the delivery of basic services to the vulnerable sector through digitalization.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the unified ID system will have a standardized look and a digital counterpart to prevent unscrupulous persons from availing the discounts and privileges intended for persons with disabilities using fake ID cards.

The unified ID system is one of the proposals by the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) in addressing the illegal issuance, sale, and utilization of fake Persons with Disability ID. The NCDA Governing Board is chaired by the DSWD secretary.

Secretary Gatchalian explained that the creation of a unified ID system for persons with disabilities will be managed by the DSWD and the NCDA, in collaboration with local government units (LGUs), through their respective Persons with Disability Affairs Offices.

“We’re coming up with the policy na real-time ‘yong encoding [sa LGUs] so that we can produce real-time online IDs first, that later on pag ni-request will become physical IDs and mailed to them [by the DSWD],” Gatchalian said.

The unified ID system for persons with disabilities is expected to be pilot tested from January to June of this year.