MANILA, Philippines — The jockeying for the prime contract of printing the national ID system for an estimated 116 million Filipinos is over.

To prevent delays that usually follow a contentious bidding process among private contractors, the government has decided to take matters into its own hands and print the ID cards itself.

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On Monday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to produce blank cards for IDs under the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).

The printing of the ID cards will cost a total of P3.4 billion out of the total PhilSys project cost of P30 billion. Filipino citizens may expect to have the cards by 2022.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno and PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa signed the agreement.

116 million cards

Under the deal, the BSP shall produce 116 million cards over a period of three years for “Phil IDs,” which are nontransferable and will be issued to all Philippine citizens or resident aliens registered under the PhilSys.

Among the tasks of the PSA are managing the PhilSys database, ensuring the availability, confidentiality, integrity, accuracy and readiness of the data in the blank cards, and undertaking the personalization, quality checking and distribution of the Phil IDs.

Each ID card will cost P30, but will be provided free to citizens, BSP Senior Assistant Governor Dahlia Luna said.

No need for 2 IDs

It will become the official proof of identity for each Filipino and will eliminate the need for providing two government IDs when transacting with companies like financial institutions, Diokno said.

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The national ID scheme also aims at ensuring efficiency in the so-called know-your-customer process for private institutions. A recent BSP study showed that costs associated with validating clients’ identities could decline by 80 percent.

Republic Act No. 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, mandates the establishment of the PhilSys for all Filipino citizens and resident aliens in the country. The PSA is the lead implementing agency of the law.

Mapa said a time-motion analysis under the pilot program had showed that an applicant would be able to register for and receive his national ID in 15 minutes, but this could take slightly longer for senior citizens with physical limitations.

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