A digital national ID project is targeted for implementation this year.
Secretary Frederick Go of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs (OSAPIEA) told members of the Chamber of Real Estate Builders Associations (CREBA) on Friday his office, the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Department of Information and Communication Technology have come together to agree on a working digital national ID platform.
“The good news is we will have use cases before the end of the year,” Go said.
Go added: “I have identified this as a priority project because this is foundational to the implementation of many government programs. It will simplify public and private transactions, enhance KYC (know your customer) process and will enhance the delivery of government services, strengthen financial inclusion and ultimately promote the ease of doing business.”
In a previous forum, Go had stressed a national ID in digital form could curb corruption and fraudulent transactions as well as misrepresentation.
“It eliminates the need to present other forms of identification and therefore eases doing business,” he said.
The national digital ID, he said, will strengthen financial inclusion, as this can now be used to distribute government assistance.
The government has yet to complete the roll out of the Philippine national Identification system.