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Nat'l ID delay due to insufficient data, design changes —BSP
Insufficient data and design changes have delayed the printing of physical national ID cards, government officials said.
Senior Assistant Governor Iluminada Sicat of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Philippine Statistics Authority chief Dennis Mapa made the disclosure upon the questioning of House appropriations panel vice chairperson Stella Quimbo on why only 36 million physical national ID cards have been printed since the National ID law was passed in 2018.
Meanwhile, another 75.4 million national ID cards were issued digitally.
“There were operational challenges meaning insufficient data flow, design changes which led to delays in personalization and production of Philippine ID cards. Currently, BSP is studying our legal and operational options with regards to our service provider,” Sicat said during the deliberations of the P5.768 trillion proposed budget for 2024.
BSP is the government agency in charge of printing the IDs.
“The [initial] design was changed for security, Madam chair. The first one, it was the first time for us to have our national ID. There was additional information [added] in the QR code, so the QR code became bigger, and it would take some time to print it,” Mapa added.
“We made adjustments in the QR code, and it slowed down at 80,000 cards per day,” he said.
In July last year, Mapa said BSP already nudged its service provider to increase the daily number of printed cards.
“The BSP’s legal team is reviewing the contract with the service provider,” he said.
Sicat also said that BSP is already charging damages to the contractor due to the delayed printing of the ID cards.
Quimbo, in response, asked the BSP for a full report on the reasons for the delay. Sicat said they will comply with the request.
The issuance of national ID is a requirement of the 2018 Philippine Identification System law which establishes a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens of the Philippines to aid in delivery of social services.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
