Scrap national ID system

The arguments presented by Malacañang in favor of a nationwide ID system are highly suspect since what is offered, among other things, is the convenience for ID holders to transact business with all government agencies which on the face of it is effective management-wise. The question is, effective for whom?

What is scary about this ID system is the high probability of abuse the ID holders are open to. Imagine the information about you in the computer database of the government. Shades of Alduos Huxley's "Brave New World," the story about Big Brother watching every citizen's move!

What if the Cha Cha movement prevails? GMA then becomes the Premier. The deja vu scenario of the Martial Law years under the authoritarian rule of Marcos is still too real to dispel easily from one's mind especially for those of us who had been witnesses and participants to EDSA I. One cannot be too comfortable in his home thinking that at any time you can be picked up for questioning at the whim of the powers that be.

Better safe than sorry. Scrap this ID system envisioned by Malacañang. Why can't GMA be content with the IDs issued by LTO, SSS and Comelec? Surely the combined information of these agencies will suffice to serve Malacañang's purposes without giving the citizenry a reason to be afraid of. Paranoia? No. Aware of the dire consequences through experience and knowledge of political history, however, are the driving forces that fuel my dissent against such an exercise of citizen control.

Edgardo Dequito

Timpolok, Gun-ob, Lapulapu City