Aboitiz-Ayala group to allot P15B for proposed ID system

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
A CONSORTIUM led by the Ayala and Aboitiz groups will be shelling out P15 billion for its proposal to design and develop the infrastructure for the country’s national identification (ID) system.
The unsolicited proposal submitted to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) by the group of Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and Aboitiz Infracapital, Inc. (AIC) in partnership with Unisys Philippines aims to provide a “national identity infrastructure solution.”
“(The project’s) worth about P15 billion. That split one-third between the three of us,” AIC President Sabin M. Aboitiz told reporters on the sidelines of the Aboitiz group’s annual media event in Makati late Wednesday.
The project would involve storing, maintaining, managing, and authenticating identity information of individuals, according to an earlier disclosure by AIC’s parent Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV).
The proposed concession period is 17 years, at which time the consortium will “develop and implement an expedient and comprehensive solution that will provide a safe and secure identification and benefits payment mechanism for individuals transacting with government.”
Mr. Aboitiz said the government has received the proposal but yet to give a formal reply.
“I don’t know if the government is even going to accept it. But we find it so important to have a national ID. So whether we get it or somebody else will we just want it the national ID,” said Mr. Aboitiz, who also sits as the chief operating officer of AEV.
The consortium’s proposal followed President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signing of Republic Act No. 11055, otherwise known as the Philippine Identification System Act (PhilSys), last month. The PSA has been tasked to implement the PhilSys, which Mr. Duterte earlier said aims to “curtail bureaucratic red tape, promote the ease of doing business, (and) also avert fraudulent transactions.”
Among the details the PhilSys will collect are the full name, sex, date and place of birth, blood type, and address. The system will also detail whether a person is a Filipino or resident alien, and include their front-facing photo, full set of fingerprints, and an iris scan.
Residents will get a 12-digit PhilSys number that will represent their digital identity across multiple platforms.
The government has allocated P2 billion under the 2018 national budget for the national ID system’s implementation under the PSA’s budget. This is part of an indicative P30-billion budget for the next five years.
The newly-formed PhilSys Policy and Coordination Council aims to come up with the implementing rules and regulations for the law by October, with a pilot run by December. It targets to distribute IDs to 25 million Filipinos per year until 2021.