FULL-SCALE registration for the National ID is now expected to begin in October with a target to register 10 million people, after pilot registration efforts set for earlier in the year were hampered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Deputy National Statistician and Assistant Secretary Lourdines C. dela Cruz told BusinessWorld that the October sign up period represents a few months’ delay from the original plan of a June-July rollout.

“Our team decided to move the mass registration to October,” Mr. Dela Cruz said by mobile phone Tuesday, to provide for the safety of the personnel manning registration centers as well as of the applicants.

“Even if we move mass registration to October, (we have increased the target this year) from originally five million individuals (to) 10 million.”

He said the full-scale registration will prioritize heads of household and single parents, in order to capture more information about potential beneficiaries for the government’s cash subsidy programs.

Mr. Dela Cruz said the first pilot registrations took place last year while the second phase, due to start in March, faced delays due to the lockdown. The pilot programs were designed to reduce the time spent in registration booths to 10-12 minutes from the initial 15 minutes.

He said the PSA hopes to register “most” Filipinos before President Rodrigo R. Duterte steps down in 2022.

Mr. Dela Cruz said the PSA will observe social distancing rules during registration and launch an online pre-registration and appointment system to speed up data collection before applicants proceed to registration centers to provide biometric information.

He said the internal target is to launch the online pre-registration initiative by August or September.

National Economic and Development Authority Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua announced earlier that among his priorities is to fast-track the registration for the national ID system, with mass registration to start in June or July.

Mr. Chua had not responded to requests for comment about the new timetable at deadline time. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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