CEBU CITY, Cebu (PIA) – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Region 7 has expanded its National ID services by implementing mobile registration activities through the ‘National ID on Wheels,’ catering to the farthest barangays in Central Visayas.
Sitting as the resource person during the 9th episode of the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas program on July 23, PSA-7 regional director Engr. Ariel Florendo discussed the updates on the ongoing national ID registration and their programs for expanding the reach of their national ID services.
He also reported the agency’s initiatives to add new registration service offerings, such as authentication services, the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP), and the establishment of Civil Registration Services Outlets and Batch Request System (BREQ).
“We go to the farthest barangays, we do the mobile registration, and we bring the national ID registration to every corner of Central Visayas. We are now registering children 1-4 years old for national ID,” said Florendo.
“We encourage the public, parents, and guardians to register their children, go to our offices and registration centers, and avail of mobile registration to register their children for national ID,” he added.
As of April 2024, a total of 6,754,084 individuals in the region have already successfully registered for the National ID, which is 96 percent of the agency’s target population of 7 million.
Of the total, 4,279,735 are from Cebu, 1,211,521 from Bohol, 1,1168,903 from Negros Oriental, and 93,925 from Siquijor.
A total of 4.4 million national ID cards have already been delivered to Central Visayas as of April 2024.
PSA-7 also introduced the ePhill ID and the Digital National ID in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).
“Aside from the physical national ID, we also now have this ePhill ID, which we can print, and we also have a digital national ID that can be accessed through national-id.gov.ph. The features and functionalities of the physical ePhill ID are all the same, which should be accepted and acknowledged by all the banks and establishments as valid proof of identity to be used for different transactions,” said Florendo.
PSA-7 has issued 2.4 million printed ePhill IDs in the region as of April 2024.
Authentication services and BRAP
PSA-7 also offers authentication services under the BRAP.
PSA’s authentication services provide assistance to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in authenticating the beneficiaries’ registered births and other civil registry documents, while the BRAP is intended to increase the level of birth registration, especially in marginalized communities.
“We have these authentication services wherein we can authenticate the IDs and other documents during these activities undertaken by DSWD. Sa laing bahin, among nakita sauna nga daghang mga tawo nga wala pa gyud na register at the same time wala usab security paper, but under BRAP, amo gi adto ang remote barangays katung wala pa naka register, amo silang gi register, og amo sad gihatagan og security paper. Pinaagi sa BRAP nahatagan natu silag birth certificate ug security paper,” Florendo noted.
(On the other hand, we have seen that there are many people who have not registered at all, and at the same time, they do not have security papers. But under BRAP, we went to the remote barangays that have not yet registered, registered them, and gave them a security paper. Through BRAP, we were able to give them a birth certificate and a security paper.)
PSA-7 has successfully authenticated almost 280,000 4Ps beneficiaries, while the BRAP mobile registration was able to accommodate over 18,000 records that were successfully registered and more than 10,000 birth certificates issued for free.
CRS outlets and Batch Request System
The agency also highlighted the services of their Civil Registration Services (CRS) outlets in each province and the plan to put up another CRS outlet in Siquijor.
The CRS outlet in Cebu City accommodates 3,500 daily transactions, while the Dumaguete and Bohol CRS outlets cater to 729 and 660 daily transactions, respectively.
“Another good thing that we are doing is what we call the Batch Request System, or BREQS. Ang mga constituents ana nga LGU, dili na need moadto sa CRS outlet, pwede ra didto mo register sa BREQS outlet nga naa sa ilang respective LGU,” said Florendo.
(The constituents of that LGU do not need to go to the CRS outlet. You can register at the BREQS outlet in your LGU.)
Through the Batch Request System, the BREQ partners can now collect requests for civil registry documents from the public.
PSA-7 was able to establish a network of 87 BREQ partners out of the 129 local government units in Central Visayas.
Of the total, 41 are in Cebu province, 25 in Bohol, 20 in Negros Oriental, and 1 in Siquijor.
PSA-7 was the featured agency for the 9th episode of the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas program, a platform initiated by the Presidential Communications Office to highlight the accomplishments of the invited government agency, through the Philippine Information Agency.
The weekly activity aims to serve as a platform to enhance public understanding and appreciation of national government’s programs and projects through the different implementing government agencies.
Watch the full episode here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1075021567473906&rdid=HMhtekvxDA72F3YB. (RGC/PIA7 Cebu)
