GMA, Security Council endorse OK of national ID system

President Arroyo and the National Security Council (NSC) agreed yesterday that the Philippines must finally implement the long-delayed national identification (ID) system to help fight global and local terrorism.

This consensus on the controversial national ID system proposal was reached during a meeting of the NSC at Malacañang to discuss developments in the global war against terrorism.

In a press briefing after the meeting, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez disclosed that the proposal to revive the implementation of a national ID system came no less than from members of Congress led by Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, on the other hand, said it was Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate committee on national defense, who initiated a proposal to revive the national ID system, and this was supported by Drilon who was an executive secretary during the administrations of Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos.

Golez said the NSC "accepted the need" to adopt a national ID system which will use the data on the Social Security System (SSS) ID as a nucleus or basis. An estimated 26 million to 28 million members carry the SSS cards, he said.

"One very important aspect in the fight against terrorism is identification," Golez said. The national ID system was "recognized" as "necessary in the fight against terrorism."

Golez said the proposed national ID system was widely rejected in the past because of legal and constitutional questions on its adoption, including the public’s resistance because of its association with the Marcos dictatorship, during which the first national ID system was put in place.

"In the past, when there was a proposal for a national ID system, the dangers being addressed were thought to be just goblins, but now they’re real. When you spoke of international terrorism before, 10 years ago or even eight years ago, the security environment at the time was very different as it is now," Golez said.

Ramos issued an administrative order which paved the way for the implementing guidelines of a national ID system. The administrative order was questioned before the Supreme Court by then Sen. Blas Ople.

Ople, who is now foreign affairs secretary, is in Europe and could not attend the NSC meeting. Aquino and Ramos attended.

The Supreme Court affirmed some of the legal and constitutional issues raised against the national ID system that the Ramos administration wanted to adopt. The court said the issuance of an administrative order on a national ID system was a "usurpation" of congressional powers to legislate such a national ID system.

Golez said the national ID system would require data required by the SSS ID and that the system would not be "intrusive" or "invade people’s privacy."

Golez and Bunye said there was no objections and no reservations raised during the NSC meeting yesterday.

Meanwhile, Congress was urged yesterday to speedily pass the anti-terrorism bill in view of the Saturday’s spate of bomb explosions in Bali.

In separate interviews, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the terror attacks in Indonesia raise concerns that similar attacks may happen in the Philippines.

"This is definitely not the time to dilly-dally. We should immediately pass this measure into law," said Lacson whose version of the proposed anti-terrorism law was the first bill filed in the 12th Congress. It hopes to address the threat of international terrorism.