Republic Act No. 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, signed into law by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on August 6, 2018, aims to establish a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens of the Republic of the Philippines. The valid proof of identity provided by the PhilSys shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, and shall be a social and economic platform that promotes seamless social service delivery and strengthens financial inclusion for both public and private services. As a foundational digital ID system, the PhilSys will transform how services are delivered in the Philippines, and accelerate our transition into a digital economy, including to enable presenceless, paperless, and cashless transactions.

  • Make services more accessible. PhilSys will be accessible to all Filipinos and its credential will be accepted for most transactions. It will provide access to financial, social protection, health education and other government services;
  • Promote ease of doing business. It will provide a platform for the government and private sector to identify and verify their customer in a digital and automated manner both in-person and online transactions;
  • Enhance the integrity of services and reduce fraud. PhilSys will uniquely identify each registered person at a national scale with high-level of assurance, eliminate identity fraud and strengthen integrity of functional identification registries;
  • Enable and promote participation and trust in digital government and the digital economy. PhilSys should enable to broader transition to digital, online citizen-centric service delivery by government and the private sector; and
  • Empower Filipinos to have greater control over their personal data. PhilSys will give PSN-holders the ability to determine who sees what data about them when carrying out transactions using the Philsys. It will contribute to greater transparency and accountability for how data is used in the Philippines.

A foundational digital ID system, like PhilSys, will contribute to nation building. It will enable the Philippines to move away from inefficient and expensive physical documents, processes, and credentials to the use of digital equivalents.