THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has distributed a total of 299,508 electronic Philippine IDs (ePhilIDs) so far to Negros Oriental registrants to the national identification program, an official said on Monday.

PSA-Negros Oriental provincial head Engr. Ariel Fortuito told the Philippine News Agency that they began releasing these PhilIDs last week.

Fortuito called on the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) registrants to come to their office to process and claim their ePhilIDs even if these were just temporary.

He also reiterated that while ePhilID is a temporary identification, this remains acceptable in all government and other transactions.

PhilSys physical card will be sent via the Philippine Postal Corporation.

Meanwhile, the PSA here is targeting to accomplish a 100 percent registration of Negros Oriental residents by the end of the year despite a reported slowdown in the process.

Fortuito said his office is now reaching out to the households and the barangays to locate more unregistered residents.

Also, only individuals aged 5 and above can register for the national ID as there is still no word for the registration of citizens aged 0 to 4, he said.

PSA records showed that as of Monday, there are 1,063,692 PhilSys registrants in the province.

This represents 84.09 percent of the province’s 1,264,881 population based on the 2020 Census on Population and Housing.

The capital city of Dumaguete logged the highest registrants at 114,356 out of the 121,937 population. (PNA)