THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) welcomes President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s directive to tap the private sector in the digitalization of the national identification (ID) system, particularly its use cases, for seamless transactions across government agencies and private entities.

“Given the 75.8 million Filipinos who have already registered to PhilSys, we are eager to collaborate with the private sector to further accelerate our progress in expanding our use cases. We want our registrants to immediately reap and enjoy the benefits of PhilSys, as a digital ID system,” says PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa, a national statistician and the civil registrar general.

As of Jan. 13, 2023, almost 29 million PhilID cards have been printed with more than 15.7 million ePhilIDs issued.

As part of the PSA’s efforts to fasttrack the issuance of ePhilIDs, the agency has initiated a house-to-house distribution strategy and has piloted a website that allows registered persons to download a PDF copy of their ePhilID on their mobile devices.

“PhilSys is a foundational, digital

ID system. So, its functionality is geared [toward] digital use whether as a card, printed on paper or PDF file. This ensures an inclusive national ID system that can be used across government agencies and private entities for more efficient delivery of services for Filipinos. This is a move closer to realizing the vision of a Makabagong Pilipinas,” adds Mapa.

Part of the PhilSys-enabled services PSA intends to offer is the electronic Know Your Customer where registered individuals may consent to share data from the PhilSys Registry to the relying party.