PHILSYS. HOW?

“That fear is based on anything that borders to illegal. If at all, the Philippine

ID will even aid in our drive against the social menaces of poverty, corruption, and

criminal issues as well as terrorism and violent extremism,” Duterte said in his

speech during the ceremonial signing of the law.

Me, how?

The President had signed National ID system into law this August 6, 2018,

Monday, the Republic Act No. 11055 otherwise known as AN ACT

ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM commonly known

as the “Philippine Identification System” or the “PhilSys” for all citizens and resident

aliens of the Republic of the Philippines.

Having read the law, it aims to provide valid proof of identity for all citizens

and resident aliens as a means of simplifying public and private transactions.

Sec. 3. Objectives

“…The PhilSys aims to eliminate the need to present other

forms of identification when transacting with the government
and the private sector, subject to appropriate authentication
measures based on a biometric identification system.”

” Furthermore, the PhilSys shall be a social and economic

Platform through which all transactions including public and
private services can be availed of and shall serve as the link
in the promotion of seamless service delivery, enhancing
administrative governance, reducing corruption, strengthening
financial inclusion, and promoting ease of doing business.”

A pilot test on selected regions will be conducted by PSA in the months after

signing the law which will lay down the registration process prior to the full 5-year

implementation starting 2019.

JASMIN G. MACABACYAO LlB-3

Human Rights Law
AY2018-2019
 Previous administration attempted to establish national ID system but these

efforts were met with strong opposition. Now comes RA No. 11055, finally a law.

This involves a much larger dataset and has more significant effects,

regardless of which side we are on. The system will contain a person’s Philippine

Identification System Number (PSN), demographic data, full name, gender, blood

type, date of birth, place of birth, address, citizenship, marital status (optional),

mobile number (optional), e-mail address (optional), biometric information, front

facing photograph, full set of fingerprints, iris scan, and if necessary, other

identifiable features as may be identified in the IRR.

PhilSys is more difficult to traverse compared to other measures supported

by law enforcement and national securities because fairly, it offers some positive

features that are notable such as the better delivery and access to government

services where costs to both government and citizens will somehow be reduced,

the financial and social inclusion by providing official identification to people that

usually have no access to similar documents, and public safety.

However, it is so critical to comprehend how can a single law be relied on

to combat all these considering several issues also form the core of resistance to

this type of measure that even huge and more developed countries such as

Australia, New Zealand, and the US had these significant issues which kept them

from implementing the same.

Presenting relevant issues which cannot be ignored such as surveillance

and privacy rights violations, infringement of other civil liberties, privacy violations,

and doubts over effectiveness against crime and terrorism are among these

issues. There is no guaranty that these rights are secured. The law in itself lacks

the convincing power as to the necessity of its existence.

JASMIN G. MACABACYAO LlB-3

Human Rights Law
AY2018-2019
 Furthermore, the law did not specifically identify as to who will make such

determination on disclosure of registered information in cases of “public health or

safety”. This is creepy and is a threat to any individual registered in the ID System

when it will be used as a tool or system for such purposes. Abuses on the

protection of unlawful disclosure is eminent.

For 2018, the government has allotted 2 billion to the PSA to prepare for its

rollout. The required significant financial commitment is too high for an

experimental and ambitious implementation of a regulatory kind. This will just be a

waste of people’s money for an ID System that is difficult to implement.

The Philippines is not yet ripe for such a high maintenance large set of data

security under its custody. We have encountered various data breaches not to

mention the 2016 COMELEC breach which only reinforced public perception that

Philippine government is incompetent or poorly equipped to manage and maintain

secure information systems. What proof do we have that the government is

capable and will do better in handling a bigger and more complex system?

Lastly, having a specialized registration process for minors, indigenous

people, the PWD and those in similar situations is highly experimental and costly.

That in order to register, one must present a birth certificate from the PSA and we

knew for a fact that those people from far flung areas have limited access thereat

due to several factors going to and fro government offices. There is no guaranty

that all these marginalized indigenous people will be covered on their registration.

Worst is that there is an impending risk that they may not be able to receive basic

and social services once not registered to the system.

It may be safe to say that only a few will benefit from this system. The high

costs of its difficult implementation, the possible breach of information, the abuses

on the use of gathered information, the possible violations on human civil liberties,

JASMIN G. MACABACYAO LlB-3

Human Rights Law
AY2018-2019
and the lack of completeness of the law itself, how can the government justify the

necessity of its implementation when we have other huge issues and crisis the

Philippines is facing which the government have to address rather than wasting

resources for a less important, expensive, experimental and ambitious system that

will eventually be moot in the end.

Being mindful during these troubling times, we, as people, must take our

part in keeping the balance on efforts that gives more power to an administration

that is not shy on testing its limits of authority. Much more giving it an easier

management scheme on the tip of its fingers to flip on and we may live to regret it

in the end.

JASMIN G. MACABACYAO LlB-3

Human Rights Law
AY2018-2019