Name: Zatarain, Michelle D.

Date: August 2, 2019

Section: 1k Professor: Dean Ulan

The Philippine Identity Card;

A Solution for the State’s Interests or an Infringement of Civil Liberty?

The "Philippine Identification System Act" or Republic Act No. 11055 was signed by

President Rodrigo Duterte on August 6, 2018. Under this law, Filipino citizens and foreign

residents of the country are required to register with the new identification system. Information

to be collected under the Philippine Identification System includes demographic data such as full

name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, blood type, address, and citizenship. While marital status,

mobile numbers, and email addresses are optional. In addition, biometric information will also be

recorded, including front-facing photograph, full set of fingerprints, and iris scan. Also, other

identifiable features may be collected if necessary. This information will then be included in the

new national ID card or “Phil ID”.

The national ID system has been one of the most controversial news of public discourse

upon its enactment. Proponents of the national ID system said that it can greatly improve the

delivery of government services, especially for those who lack proper government-issued

identification cards. According to Republic Act 11055, the system aims to "eliminate the need to

present other forms of identification when transacting with the government and private sector."

While the system has its benefits, data privacy experts worry that several provisions blur the line

between what’s appropriate and what may constitute a violation of one’s privacy. Some of the

arguments made in opposition of RA 11055 includes the issue of surveillance and privacy rights

violations, in giving the government unprecedented access to a huge cache of its citizens’ personal

data could cause a great danger to any society, as confirmed by the history of many countries which
offer examples of its abuse or misuse. In line with this, the government naturally has to continually

shoulder expenses for acquiring and maintaining equipment, devices, logistics and processes to

issue an identification card to every citizen.

An important question, therefore, is the Philippine Government equipped to enforce RA

11055? The government has yet to prove it is capable of protecting its citizens’ data, with several

instances of hacking of government websites and digital assets over the past years. The biggest

case of a data breach was the “Comeleak,” which exposed voters’ personal information. A similar

thing might happen with the national ID system’s database. It is due to the growing promise of

digital ID and digital identification systems that many new national initiatives are emerging to

create digital identities for its citizens. However, in many of these nations, the efforts are proving

to be challenging due to the lack of adequate legal frameworks, regulations, processes,

identification and authentication tools, technologies, and more. As a result, human identity fraud

is becoming a growing security problem. A recent article published on July 16, 2019 by forbes has

reported how the Aadhaar ID was being sold in alternate markets for as little as 500 Indian Rupees,

are we witnessing the weaponization of identity becoming a reality?