About 92% of Iloilo’s population has registered for the national identification (ID) system as of Thursday, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA Iloilo Chief Statistical Specialist Jerry Dolutan said 2,345,027 individuals have registered since the national ID registration began in February 2021. Of this number, 64,369 were registered this year, including 14,139 children ages 0 to 4 and 4,093 senior citizens.
“We have registered almost 92 percent of our population, and we do not stop. We have an ongoing mobile registration. We go around the province in coordination with our local government units,” Dolutan said.
Based on the 2024 Census of Population, Iloilo province has 2,082,616 residents, while Iloilo City has 473,728.
Dolutan said the remaining 8 percent are mostly Filipinos working abroad and beneficiaries of social protection programs.
Registration continues at the PSA Iloilo provincial office from Monday to Saturday and at the government center in SM City Iloilo.
While national ID registration is voluntary, Dolutan said the document is being used by various government agencies to authenticate and validate beneficiaries of social protection programs.
“This is one way for the government to authenticate and verify to ensure that the programs are availed by legitimate beneficiaries,” he said.
The PSA has been conducting co-location activities with the Department of Social Welfare and Development during payouts for the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport program, where beneficiaries are required to have a national ID.
Starting July 27, the PSA will also conduct co-location activities with the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. office in La Paz district to assist members who do not yet have a national ID.
The agency will also join payout activities for the emergency cash-for-work program of the Department of Labor and Employment.
Aside from new registrations, the PSA is processing requests to update demographic information. Dolutan said 6,892 individuals have been served, mostly for changes in marital status.
The PSA is also awaiting instructions from its central office on the updating of biometric information, which remains under pilot testing.
Meanwhile, the delivery of physical national ID cards has been temporarily suspended as the PSA prepares to take over both printing and delivery operations. Previously, printing was handled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and delivery by the Philippine Postal Corp.
While waiting for physical cards, the PSA Iloilo has issued 47,319 national IDs in paper form. (PNA)
