The Philippine ID System

“The complexity of bringing together different government offices is integral to the success of PhilSys.

Two landmark bills were signed into law yesterday by President Rodrigo Duterte but this column has only room to discuss one of them. Not that one is more important than the other, rather this columnist will surely dedicate a piece on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in the future once the contentious and complicated plebiscite’s details are made public. I am very hopeful for the Bangsamoro and the BOL is a huge step towards long-lasting peace yet we know that the hardest part is still ahead. More work has to be done.

The same can be said with the Philippine Identification System Act which establishes the Philippine ID System or the PhilSys – an acronym that will find its way to every Filipino household in the near future. (Note: The frustrated IT entrepreneur in me checked the availability of domain names with “PhilSys.com” or “PhilSys.ph,” but someone got these ahead of me.)

If implemented correctly, we’ll be used to being asked “Mam/Sir, ano po PhilSys number mo?” (Ma’am/ Sir what’s your PhilSys number?) at government offices, banks, hospitals and malls. We will be requested to input our PhilSys number on websites for our birth certificates, NBI clearance and passport renewal. Pretty soon, we’d be very familiar with our PhilSys number just like our Taxpayer’s Identification Number since it would be a number dedicated to us for our entire lives, at least, as Filipinos.

That is, if the law is implemented correctly. Just like the BOL, the PhilSys is expected to encounter some challenges which I predict to be as follows:

First, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) are yet to be drafted. The IRR is important since this would spell out how the law will come into existence within the context of Philippine society. It shall be drafted under coordination with the involved government offices with the participation of the private sector.

Second, we expect a petition to question PhilSys before the Supreme Court (SC), just like previous attempts by the government to establish a national ID system. Every law student has read the 1998 SC decision entitled, Ople v. Torres, on the right to privacy. This case struck down former President Fidel Ramos’ Administrative Order (AO) 308 creating a National Computerized Identification System as null and void for being unconstitutional for violating the Filipino citizens’ right to privacy and its usurpation of Congress’ power to legislate.

As an (old) millennial, I always find it amusing how the erudite SC justices write about technology. May I dedicate this portion of my column to the writing of former Chief Justice Puno in the Ople case which is instructive to this very day, to wit: “Even while we strike down AO 308, we spell out in neon that the court is not per se against the use of computers to accumulate, store, process, retrieve and transmit data to improve our bureaucracy… Xxx… The benefits of the computer has revolutionized information technology. It developed the Internet, introduced the concept of cyberspace and the information superhighway where the individual, armed only with his personal computer, may surf and search all kinds and classes of information from libraries and databases connected to the net.”

Fast forward to 2006, the SC, in Kilusang Mayo Uno, et al. v. Director General, NEDA, et al., decided on former President now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order (EO) 420, creating the Unified Multi-Purpose Identification (UMID) System which is still being used today. The petitioners raised the similar issues in the Ople case but the High Court this time held that there was no usurpation of Congress’ powers, neither a violation of the right to privacy.

More specifically, the SC, in this case, held “EO 420 does not establish a national ID system but makes the existing sectoral card systems of government entities like GSIS, SSS, PhilHealth and LTO less costly, more efficient, reliable and user-friendly to the public.

Hence, EO 420 is a proper subject of executive issuance under the President’s constitutional power of control over government entities in the Executive department as well as under the President’s constitutional duty to ensure that laws are faithfully executed.”

“The benefits of the computer has revolutionized information technology.

Which brings us to the present PhilSys. Now, it is clear that Congress’ powers were not usurped. In fact, Speaker Arroyo was among those who led the passage of the bill, together with main proponents, Rep. Sol Aragones and former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, among other House members. What remains would be constitutional test on privacy.

Surely, Speaker Arroyo made use of her experience with UMID as she knows how it passed the test of constitutionality of the SC.

However, any issue on privacy may have already been answered by the passage of the Data Privacy Act in 2012. In fact, I have been telling colleagues that the whole point of enacting the landmark privacy law is for it to lay the basis of the national ID system. As such, any legal hurdle may be expected to be surpassed by PhilSys. But as a lawyer, I am still closely anticipating the filing of any petition to question it as its resolution would enrich jurisprudence on privacy.

Third, the complexity of bringing together different government offices is integral to the success of PhilSys. As mentioned in the law, the Philippine Statistics Authority, National Privacy Commission and Department of Information and Communications Technology, would be the main government offices involved. The answer to this would be the strong political will of President Duterte. Given the heightened political climate now that the mid-term elections are nearing, it is important that this law be implemented ASAP, otherwise it risks being placed in the barn burner alongside other laws that failed to reach its full potential.

In conclusion, there must be no fear of an Orwellian government surveillance due to the enactment of this law. I pray that government offices (BIR, DFA, DoTr, etc.) and concerned government-owned and controlled corporations (BSP, GSIS, SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, etc.) would enact their respective issuances recognizing and requiring the presentation of the PhilSys number in its transactions. Also, there must be close coordination with the private sector in the implementation of this law so that its full benefits and effects would be felt by our society.

For comments, email him at dmdejesus@house.gov.ph.