The Armed Forces of the Philippines urged its members to register for the national ID, which will help government troops run after criminals and terrorists.
“The national ID will not only provide us with a valid proof of identification. It will help government forces in hunting down terrorists, criminals and unscrupulous individuals who hide behind false identities,” AFP Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Erickson Gloria said.
In coordination with the Philippine Statistics Authority, the AFP facilitated the Philippine Identification System registration for military personnel, civilian human resources and dependents at the Lapu-Lapu Grandstand in Camp Aguinaldo.
The registration, which will run until August 10, will target around 15,000 registrants.
Among those who registered for their Philippine ID yesterday were Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Office of Civil Defense Administrator Usec. Ricardo Jalad.
“The AFP supports the implementation of PhilSys as it shares mutual concerns and interest for public welfare.This endeavour to ease our people’s access to government services will significantly help us in our effort to address the root cause of armed conflict and radicalization,” Gloria added.
Earlier, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua expressed confidence that the government will reach its 50 to 70 million target for national ID registrations by yearend.
He said some 37.2 million Filipinos registered have already accomplished Step 1 for the registration as of July 2.
PSA said some 16.2 million individuals have also completed Step 2 or the biometrics capture, while some 343,742 registrants have received their PhilID cards.
“The COVID-19 crisis underscores the need to provide unhampered access to banking and social services for all Filipinos, especially the poor.
This is why the President gave the directive to accelerate the implementation of the Philippine Identification System or PhilSys to provide all Filipinos a unique and digitized ID,” Chua said in a statement.