As part of its initiative to combat the proliferation of fake persons with disabilities identification (ID) cards, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its attached agency, the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), will start the roll out of the unified ID system in pilot local government units (LGUs) by October.
According to Asst. Secretary for Information and Communications Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Johannes Paulus Acuña, the unified ID system for persons with disabilities is now in the internal pilot testing stage.
“May mga ginagawa na po kaming internal technical pilots tapos pinapakita na po namin sa mga katuwang po natin sa NCDA. So internal testing development na po yung ginagawa namin this July, August and September para po mapaghandaaan po namin yung actual roll out sa mga [pilot] LGUs starting po October of this year,” Asst. Secretary Acuña told reporters during the Thursday (July 3) Media Forum at the Central Office’s New Press Center in Quezon City.
The unified ID system for persons with disabilities is an initiative of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian that aligns with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr’s agenda to promote more inclusive programs and policies for vulnerable sectors.
Some 200,000 persons with disabilities — which is roughly 10 percent of the estimated more than 2 million persons with disabilities nationwide– from 35 participating LGUs are expected to join in the pilot roll out.
The pilot areas include Parang, Maguindanao from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM); the cities of Dagupan, San Carlos, Urdaneta, and Alaminos in Pangasinan; Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; almost all municipalities in Bulacan province; Cainta, San Mateo, Santa Rosa, Teresa, and Antipolo City in Rizal province; Carmona, Cavite; Pila, Laguna, Daet, Camarines Norte; Kalibo, Aklan; Candijay, Bohol; Malaybalay, Bukidnon; Koronadal City and Surallah in South Cotabato; and the cities of Pasay and Muntinlupa in the National Capital region (NCR).
For the roll out, Asst. Secretary Acuña said the LGUs will be responsible for the application, verification, and approval of the unified persons with disabilities ID, while the centralized printing of the IDs will be handled by the NCDA.
The DSWD’s CIO also explained that they are working with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ensure that the unified persons with disabilities ID system will be easily verified using the database of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
“Ang pinaka-security po ng card ay yun pong QR code. Tapos po dun sa proseso po ng pag-aapply at pag aapprove, nandun po ang national ID. So, kung sakali po na mayroong national ID yung beneficiary natin or yung client natin, iyon po ay ire-recognize na valid ID para po mabigyan ng person with disability ID,” Asst. Secretary Acuña pointed out.
Another important security feature that the DSWD CIO shared is the traceability feature system that will help prevent the circulation of fake persons with disabilities ID.
“Yung mag-aapprove din po from the LGU side dapat po sila ay mayroon national ID din para po makikita po ng system kung mayroong pong nag-iissue na biglaang lumaki yung number ng ini-issue nyang ID. Ma-tetrace namin kung bakit kaya nagkaroon ng ganung incident and also kung saang LGU po biglang nag-spike yung approval ng ID. Tapos kung sakali po na may napatunayan na mayroon pong hindi po magandang nangyari kaya po nagkaroon ng maraming ID, yung QR code po dun po sa mga na-issue na ID, pwede pong i-deactivate iyon,” Asst. Secretary Acuña explained.
The NCDA is mandated to lead the policy formulation, development, monitoring, and coordination of advocacies and programs for persons with disabilities.
While the application, verification, and approval process for the unified ID will still be under the LGUs through their respective Persons with Disability Affairs Offices (PDAO), the DSWD will be the authority for the centralized printing and design of the unified ID. (AKDL)