The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has been told to accelerate efforts in the printing and distribution of the biometric national ID card, the PhilID, so that many more Filipinos will be in possession of the IDs by the first half of next year.
The directive was given by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after a virtual meeting with Arsenio Barlisacan, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), writes Page One, citing a Facebook post from the president.
The call from the president comes after recent figures from the PSA show the issuance of physical cards is still slow, despite a jump in the number of registrants, up to 68.3 million as of the last count.
The PSA plans to reach 94 million people for ID registration by the end of this year.
In line with the president’s call, the representative of Davao City, Paolo Duterte, has also urged the PSA and its partners to accelerate the issuance process of the cards to enable service delivery and facilitate access to government aid.
Full article: Philippines president calls for speedier issuance of biometric PhilID cards