MMDA supports national ID system

Believing that it will help in the effective delivery of basic government services and aid to the poor, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando has expressed support for the proposed implementation of a national identification system (NIS).

Contrary to the perception that the move only seeks to widen the police and the military’s control over the public, he said underprivileged Filipinos have much to gain because such a scheme would give the national government a better view of who among the 85 million Filipinos are in need of assistance and should benefit from its poverty alleviation programs.

Fernando said an NIS means those who need food, medicine, housing and shelter, and even relocation, can easily be identified without having to go through records and paperwork which can actually be altered or falsified by those who would take advantage of the government’s assistance for the poor.

“All the talk that the national ID system would help the government only against insurgency and terrorism – that’s only secondary,” he explained.

“What is more important here is that the greater population of poor Filipinos stand to gain the bigger share of the benefits of our country’s growth through an efficient identification system,” Fernando said.

Citing the case of the Metro Manila Inter-Agency Committee on Relocation of Informal Settlers as an example, Fernando said the body is having a hard time identifying who among applicants are really deserving of government assistance.

“We are having a hard time distinguishing who are the bona fide families and who the opportunists and professional squatters are,” he said.

Fernando said the benefits of an NIS outweigh what the public perceives as the negatives. He stressed that a national ID system backed by computerization and modern technology would propel the country to progress.

The MMDA chairman, who is reportedly planning to run for President in 2010, said a more intensive information drive about the whole idea of implementing an NIS should be carried out with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation doing in-depth reviews about it.

ID system in Sulu

Meanwhile, the provincial governor of Sulu has expressed desire to make the island a pilot area for the security identification system since it has already implemented similar ID initiatives to ferret out the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, according to Maj. Eugene Batara Jr., spokesman for Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom).

Batara said local government officials of Patikul, in coordination with the Marines, have implemented an identification system following a request from the people.

He disclosed that the report of Joint Task Force Comet chief Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael indicated that village leaders and residents asked to have the ID security system to protect them from Abu Sayyaf infiltration.

“On their own, the local leaders coordinated with the armed forces in the area to adopt security measures that would protect them,” Batara said.

Gov. Tan, who has coordinated with the local leaders of Patikul, has requested Rafael to implement the identification system in the whole province.

Residents of Patikul have initially secured residence certificates or “cedulas” from their respective towns.

Tan said the identification would finally isolate, if not flush out, the lawless elements in Sulu. – Roel Pareño