National Statistician Undersecretary Dennis Mapa announced on Monday that a trial run of printing the electronic form of the national ID is currently underway. According to Mapa, this will serve as an alternative to the issue of physical IDs, which is currently experiencing difficulties.
In addition to the planned distribution of 30 million physical cards, Mapa mentioned that the agency plans to issue 20 million electronic equivalents, which will be referred to as “ePhilIDs,” before the end of the year.
In addition to being able to be laminated, ePhilIDs, which can only be printed at PhilSys registration facilities, are also available.
There have been approximately one thousand people who have registered and acquired their ePhilIDs, including Mapa.
According to Mapa, the distribution of the aforementioned electronic edition has begun in the provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, and the National Capital Region. The program will soon be expanded to cover the rest of the country, and it is anticipated that a total of 20 million ePhilIDs will be issued by the time the year 2022 comes to a close.
The printing capacity of the machinery used by the PSA’s printing partner, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, has hampered the issuance of the physical national ID cards. The PSA is responsible for printing the cards. According to Mapa, the procedure will be sped up by the addition of more printers that will be provided by the central bank.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the national ID program, also known as PhilSys Registration, has now registered more than 70 million Filipino citizens as of this point.