Govt to implement unified ID system in March

The controversial unified identification system will be implemented this March following the signing of an agreement with all concerned government agencies. Social Security Service (SSS) administrator Romulo Neri, who is spearheading the national ID system, made the announcement Thursday during the signing of Republic Act 9903, which condones penalties on un-remitted SSS premium contributions by employers. "By March, we will be printing two million IDs. We expect to print 12 million IDs in five years," he said. A Malacañang statement said representatives of the SSS, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) will sign the agreement. Human rights advocates had voiced strong opposition to the national ID system, saying it can be used by the government to spy on citizens, particularly its critics and political opponents. Malacañang, on the other hand, said the system could be an effective tool against terrorism. Neri said the ID system was first intended to be used for the automated elections on May, but they had to abandon the plan due to time constraints. "Since the [Commission on Elections] has not completely finished its registration and other concerns, then we strongly doubt we can push through with it. Besides,we do not want to make it appear that we are doing this for the election," he said. The national ID system was proposed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in January 2007 during a command conference with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at Camp Aguinaldo. In September 2008, the SSS spearheaded the project with a common reference number to be issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) based on its database. - KBK, GMANews.TV