The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reports that over 15 million Filipinos have completed the Step 1 Registration for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) since its registration expansion to all provinces this year. This step, which involves the house-to-house collection of demographic information of low-income household heads and appointment setting for Step 2, recorded a total of 15 million registrants from 18 January 2021 to date across 81 provinces, and all cities and municipalities in the National Capital Region (NCR).

PSA recorded a total of 15,083,353 registrants based on manual counts from PSA Field Offices. This now brings total Step 1 registrations to 25.7 million Filipinos since its rollout in October 2020.

“We are optimistic that we will achieve our 2021 target given our pace in reaching the 15 million mark for Step 1 Registration this quarter. We will ramp-up our operations and continue to adjust our strategy in light of the pandemic to ensure the safety of our registrants and registration staff,” said PSA Undersecretary Dennis S. Mapa, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General.

“By April, we also aim to make the Step 1 Registration more accessible by launching an online portal so that our registrants can complete this step at the safety and comfort of their homes. We thank the public for embracing the PhilSys program and we hope that this enthusiasm continues as we open the PhilSys online portal soon. The demand for this online registration is critical in realizing the goals of PhilSys so Filipinos can enjoy its uses and benefits,” said Assistant Secretary Rosalinda P. Bautista, Deputy National Statistician of the PhilSys Registry Office (PRO).

PhilSys Step 1 registrations previously recorded 10.6 million registrants in 32 provinces from 12 October to the end of December 2020, surpassing PSA’s initial goal of 9 million registrants. In an online ceremonial event for PhilSys, held on 19 March 2021, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced that PhilSys’ target registrations for this year are set to at least 50 million.

In the same event, Undersecretary Mapa expressed his gratitude to registrants for adhering to the minimum health standards against COVID-19. Acting Secretary Chua also reassured that registration operations will continue to strictly implement health and safety protocols for the safety of both registrants and the staff.

The Step 2 Registration, which involves the validation of supporting documents and capture of biometric information, such as fingerprints, iris scans, and front-facing photographs at registration centers as per the registrants’ appointments, is currently taking place in 32 priority provinces. PSA intends to ramp up operations for the Step 2 PhilSys Registration on a gradual, small-scale basis. As of 23 February 2021, all priority provinces have at least one registration center in operation.

The Step 3 Registration, as the third and final step, is the issuance of the PhilSys Number (PSN) and the physical ID or the PhilID. The PSN is a randomly generated number and will serve as a permanent identification number for every registrant used for digital transactions. PSA partnered with PHLPost for the delivery of the PSN and PhilID to successful registrants.

For the latest information on PhilSys, please visit the official PhilSys website (www.psa.gov.ph/philsys) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/PSAPhilSysOfficial/). You may also reach the PhilSys Registry Office via hotline number 1388 or e-mail at info@philsys.gov.ph.

– PhilSys Registry Office