The local office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that 306,654 Palaweños have already received the printed digital version of their Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) or national ID, allowing them to access services sans their physical cards.
The issuance of ePhilIDs was initiated to supplement the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) continuous production of physical cards and distribution to the Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost).
As of March, 306,654 ePhilIDs had been issued, according to PSA Palawan records. The agency’s objective is to allow registrants to instantly enjoy the benefits of using the card.
“The ePhilID has the same functionality and validity as the Physical ID card. As such, the PhilID card and the ePhilID shall be accepted as sufficient proof of identity,” Chief Statistical Specialist Maria Lalaine Rodriguez said.
The acceptance of both IDs as sufficient proof of identity is in accordance with Executive Order No. 162 “Institutionalizing the Acceptance of the Philippine Identification (PhilID) or Philippine Identification System Number (PS) as sufficient proof of identity and age in all government and private transactions.”
Under Section 19, any person or entity who will refuse to accept or recognize the PhillD or PhilSys Number (PS) as the only official identification of the holder, without just and sufficient cause, shall be fined an amount equivalent to PHP 500,000.00.
PSA advised PhilSys-registered individuals to visit https://appt.philsys.gov.phto check if they may already claim their ePhilIDs. Those who have received an official text message from the PSA may also download a PDF copy of the ePhilID on their mobile devices.
The agency also ensured that ePhillD is secured with advanced security features even printed on a piece of paper. Its QR code verification system offers offline identity authentication involving a website that uses public-private key cryptography.
The authenticity can be verified through e PSA-issued QR Code in the PhillD/ePhillD which can be accessed at verify philsys.gov.ph using any device with a camera and internet browser.
Meanwhile, around 933, 306 Palaweños are now registered in the PhilSys as of February 28, which compromised 84.29 percent of the provincial population aged five years old and above.
Palawan has 1,107,143 population as of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing aged five years old and above.
PSA encourages the remaining unregistered population to register in the PhilSys following RA 11055 to provide a national single identification for all Filipinos, Rodriguez added.
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