THE Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA7) is urging the public to report individuals or organizations asking for money in exchange for physical national identification cards (PhilIDs).
In an interview on Friday, August 9, 2024, PSA 7 Director Ariel Florendo said the only authorized agencies to print the PhilIDs into Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cards are the PSA and the Philippine Postal Corporation.
“It’s always PSA and we are working with the Post Office because they are tasked to distribute the IDs. Outside of PSA and the Post Office, anyone who prints that is already illegal,” Florendo said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
He said the unauthorized printing of the national ID constitutes falsification of public documents.
On Friday, the PSA Central Office issued an advisory that it had received reports of individuals directly approaching registered applicants and taking photographs of their national ID in exchange for cash.
The PSA Central Office warned the public against sharing their printed or digitalized national IDs to any unauthorized individual to prevent identity theft and fraud.
PSA 7 has not received reports or complaints regarding the unauthorized printing of the PhilIDs in Central Visayas.
But Florendo said there are reports of unauthorized printing from other regions in the country.
Florendo tasked the provincial offices of PSA 7 to conduct monitoring and surveillance of unauthorized individuals especially in online platforms.
Due to delays in the printing of the PhilIDs, Florendo said the PSA has come out with two other variants — the electronic copy (ePhilID) and the digital national ID.
The PSA and the Department of Information and Communication launched on June 10 the digital national ID, the official digital version of the national ID which can be accessed through computers or smartphones with an internet connection.
Filipinos who have already registered for the national ID can download their digital national ID via https://national-id.gov.ph or the eGovPH mobile application.
In December 2022, the PSA also rolled out the ePhil IDs to augment the backlog in the printing of the PhilIDs.
According to data from the PSA Central Visayas, the agency has already delivered 4.4 million PhilID cards and issued 2.4 million printed ePhil IDs out of the 6.8 million registered individuals in the region as of April 30, 2024.
Meanwhile, Florendo reminded commercial establishments and government agencies to recognize the national ID, or face a P500,000 penalty based on Section 19 of Republic Act 11055 or the Philsys Act.
Florendo said commercial establishments and government agencies refusing to recognize the physical national ID, ePhil ID, or the digitalized national ID must be immediately reported to the PSA. / EHP