IPROMISED our readers last week that I would provide them with complete mathematical computations as to why the national ID card supplier, AllCard Inc., cannot meet its targets per the approved terms of reference (TOR) of the Philippine Identification System project, which was set forth and undertaken by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and is now being implemented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

I also promised to share some of the sentiments of the netizens over these inferior and substandard Philippine Identification (PhilID) cards. So, here goes.

BSP knew

Based on the project TOR, “The card personalization line . . . shall be able to . . . personalize the personal data/ information, including the colored photograph on the cards through a combination of laser engraving and digital colored printing/drop-ondemand technology.” It should likewise be able to “personalize and inspect cards at a minimum of 9,000 cards per hour, or at least 126,000 cards per day at 8.0 hours per shift in two-shift operations.”

Further, the specifications require the manufacturer “to engrave and print digital data and photograph on polycarbonate cards . . . with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi x 600 dpi.”

First of all, the BSP messed up the required minimum numbers. If the minimum is 9,000 cards per hour, then for 8 hours per shift at 2 shifts per day, the total daily production should be 9,000 x 8 x 2 = 144,000 cards per day. However, if we do the reverse and compute the number of cards per hour using the minimum of 126,000 cards per day, then the hourly output is only 7,875 cards (126,000 cards/2 shifts/8 hours). At six workdays a week, the monthly production should be 3,024,000 cards per month, or approximately 36 million per year.

BSP’s technical group knew that the maximum capacity for the laser engrav

ing machines supplied by AllCard was only 80,000 cards a day, without even taking into account the laser engraving of the photograph, which would drastically increase the printing time of the card.

Assuming AllCard performed at its peak, producing 80,000 cards a day at seven days a week and four weeks a month, then the monthly output would only be 2,240,000 cards, or approximately 27 million for the first year, which coincides with the Commission on Audit (CoA) findings. The CoA observed that as of the end of December 2021, the total actual deliveries of prepersonalized cards by the contractor AllCard was 27,356,750 pieces, or 76 percent of the annual requirement of 36 million. Thus, it was short by 8,643,250 pieces, or 24 percent of the required deliveries for the year 2021.

The target for the second year (2022), including the first year’s backlog, is 48,753,500. For sure, this will never be attained by AllCard due to the low capacity output of the printing machines it supplied, which is a clear violation of the binding TOR.

Erasable pictures

AllCard laser engraved the black and white photo but simply printed over by ink dropping the colored photo using a lower resolution than 600 dpi (dots per inch). This resulted in some colored photos peeling off from the surface of some people’s polycarbonate cards. Here are some of the lamentations of our netizens.

“Hello, Philippine Statistics Authority-Iloilo may pa premyo ba tong NATIONAL ID kung i-scratch kong buo? Parang go banana ba to? Ayos ayusin nyo ang pinang gagawa nyo . . . Matagal kung hinintay to tapos ganito lang kadali mabura?” – Saden Lozarito Sultan

“Awareness para sa tanan. E laminate na lang ninyo inyong national ID kay basig mapareha sa

koa na na erase na akong nawung okay?” – Kristoffer Ray Menchavez

“Nasakin na nga national id ko nabubura naman lahat ng nakasulat..” – Mhae Tolentino II

“National ID ko lang ba ganto? Kusang nabubura mukha kahit nasa wallet lang! Panget na nga nabubura pa hanef na napa-uso na to!” – Ruzzel garcia

“Ask lang po ako. Ung picture ko kse nabubura sa national id. Pwedi pakaya ako kumuha ulit” – Mdam Angela

Do I need to say more, or can I just say, “I told you so”?

An international shame

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) recently joined the fray by suggesting using the digital version of the ID rather than the actual physical ID. This suggestion, coming from the DICT secretary himself, is fraught with a bevy of other problems and will not solve the present troubles facing the PSA, BSP and AllCard. This supposed digital ID is sure to give rise to new problems, which I could discuss next week (for lack of space now).

If the intention is to use a digital version of the ID, then why spend billions of pesos and engage a contractor to supply and personalize physical ID cards?

The implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 11055, particularly Rule II-C, states that “[t]he production and security of the PhilID will be at par with the technological advances and international standards.” How could the security of the PhilID be at par with international standards when it was produced substandardly in the first place?

Allcard Inc. cannot fulfill its end of the contract, and the BSP and PSA are covering for it. The PSA even provided card production personnel and promised the CoA that it would hire more soon. The operation personnel is the responsibility of the contractor, and not that of the PSA. The TOR mandates that the “contractor shall operate the end-toend process of card production/card personalization operation.”

The PhilID card is now an international shame. Alam ba ito ni Dr. Felipe Medalla?

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