The Philippine Online Chronicles

Starting this month, various government offices will implement the Unified Multi-Purpose ID System (UMID), the new identification system that will facilitate public transactions with government agencies.

Private sector employees’ pension fund agency Social Security System (SSS), state-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Philippine Postal Corporation will roll out UMID-compliant IDs for its members.

What are UMIDs?

New UMID-compliant IDs bear a common reference number (CRN), the primary identifier of an individual transacting business or availing of services from any government agency.

IDs with CRN will serve as a valid identification card not only for GSIS and SSS members but also for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or PAG-IBIG, Land Transportation Office and other government agencies.

GSIS - An all-in-one utility card or the UMID-compliant eCard will replace the existing e-Card Plus of GSIS members and pensioners. Although the GSIS said that no amount will be collected from its members, the project will cost P270 billion or P180 per ID. GSIS has an estimated membership of 1.5 million nationwide.

Application for the ID is voluntary, but a cash loan of P10,000 is guaranteed upon claim of the ID, apparently to entice members. According to a government employees’ group, this same scheme was utilized by the GSIS on the million-peso electronic card or e-card system which failed and was substituted with another e-card plus project.

SSS - It tied up with the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) for a unified ID. A wider usage of the SSS-Philpost ID is assured including electronic-based remittance services for overseas Filipino workers through the Philpost in the future.

The ID card will allow SSS members to get their pensions, loans and benefits through the Philpost's nationwide network of about 2,200 post offices, more than half of which also function as money transfer offices.

Unlike the present SSS ID, the UMID cards will have a microchip containing basic information such as name, fingerprints, birth date and picture. The UMID card’s memory capacity allows it to be used for other purposes. The SSS is eyeing it for members’ use in claiming payments for benefits and loans through banks’ automated teller machines.

According to SSS, this is in line with their drive to utilize new technology to speed up and improve its services to its millions of members.

The entire project will cost P1.698 billion and targets to produce 12 billion ID cards for the next five years.

The contract for the ID production was awarded to All Cards Consortium composed of Teco Electric and Machinery Co., Stradcom Corp., and All Card Plastics Philippines. The awarding of the deal became controversial after losing bidders cried foul over the decision of the SSS management to award the project to Stradcom.

Stradcom, though reportedly a minority partner in the UMID project, was previously involved in the LTO-Informations Technology project questioned by many sectors.

Palace orders on National ID

Since the term of former President Fidel V. Ramos up to the incumbent administration, various executive orders were issued to implement a national identification system.

Executive Order No. 700 – issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on January 2008, it identified the SSS as the core of the UMID and directed SSS to implement the streamlining and harmonization of the ID systems of all government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs)

Executive Order No. 420 – issued by Arroyo on April 2005, it required all government agencies and GOCCs to streamline and harmonize their identification systems through the use of a unified multi-purpose ID.

AO 420 is based on the study and strong recommendation of the Department of National Defense and Armed Forces of the Philippines. In 2005, Arroyo said that instituting a national ID system is "one of the key elements of the anti-terrorism and internal security measures of her administration.”

Administrative Order No. 308 – issued by Ramos on December 12, 1996, it requires the adoption of a National Computerized Identification Reference System that would prominently feature biometric technology.

The system provided for a unique Population Reference Number (PRN) to be issued to every Filipino. It created an interagency committee to coordinate with the different affected agencies to establish standards in the issuance of ID cards in government.

AO 308 was predicated on two considerations: (1) the need to provide our citizens, as well as foreigners, with the facility to conveniently transact business with basic service and social security providers and other government instrumentalities, and (2) the need to reduce, if not totally eradicate, fraudulent transactions and misrepresentations by persons seeking basic services.

Ramos believed that NIDS would significantly reduce fraud in government entitlement programs as well as to increase efficiency in the operation of government services.

Court decisions on ID Systems

Case No. 1:  Ople vs. Torres – (Supreme Court G.R. No. 127685, 23 July 1998, penned by Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno)

In 1998, the Supreme Court invalidated AO 308. The decision stated that “While it is debatable whether interests (convenient and efficient delivery of basic services and eradication of fraudulent transactions) are compelling enough to warrant the issuance of AO 308, it is not arguable that the broadness, the vagueness, the overbreadth of AO 308, if implemented, will put our people’s right to privacy in clear and present danger.”

Main contentions

• AO 308 usurps the power of Congress to legislate - AO 308 establishes for the first time a National Computerized Identification Reference System. It does not simply implement the Administrative Code of 1987. This administrative order redefines the parameters of some basic rights of the citizenry vis-a-vis the State, as well as the line that separates the administrative power of the President to make rules and the legislative power of Congress. It deals with a subject that should be covered by law.

• AO 308 violates right to privacy - The SC also emphasized that the right to privacy does not bar all incursions into the right to individual privacy. This right merely requires that the law be narrowly focused and a compelling interest justify such intrusions. Intrusions into the right must be accompanied by proper safeguards and well-defined standards to prevent unconstitutional invasions.

Case No. 2 – Kilusang Mayo Uno vs. NEDA Director General – (Supreme Court G.R. No. 167798, 19 April 2006, penned by Justice Carpio)

In 2006, the SC upheld the validity of EO 420 which adopts a unified multi-purpose ID system for government agencies.

Main contentions

• EO 420 is not a usurpation of legislative power - EO 420 applies only to government entities that issue ID cards as part of their functions under existing laws. These entities (GSIS, SSS, LTO, Philhealth, etc) have already been issuing ID cards even prior to EO 420.

The act of issuing ID cards and collecting the necessary personal data for imprinting on the ID card does not require legislation.

EO 420 does not compel all citizens to have an ID card. It requires a very narrow and focused collection and recording of personal data while safeguarding the confidentiality of such data. In fact, the data collected and recorded under EO 420 are far less than under ID systems existing prior to EO 420.

• EO 420 does not infringe on the right to privacy - The right to privacy does not bar the adoption of reasonable ID systems by government entities.

EO 420 further provides strict safeguards to protect the confidentiality of the data collected, in contrast to the prior ID systems which are bereft of strict administrative safeguards.

EO 420 applies only to government entities that already maintain ID systems and issue ID cards pursuant to their regular functions under existing laws.

Photo by Scientific American. C/o Flickr.com. Some rights reserved.

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