High-tech ID system gets additional funding

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net


MANILA, Philippines -- The multi-agency project Unified Multi-purpose ID System (UMID) is set for the next phase of implementation after receiving $502,534 from the United States government through the US Trade and Development Agency.

The Philippine government, through the e-Government Fund of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), has also allocated a corresponding amount of P88.75 million.

The next phase of UMID, which started pilot tests late last year, is to create 5,000 biometric cards with electronic chips. Likewise, an automated fingerprint identification system would be fine-tuned and integration with a common reference number for the pilot test recipients at the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHILHEALTH).

The next phase will also see the purchase of several biometric machines that capture the image of the would-be cardholder, signature and index finger prints.

The other card-issuing government agencies that are part of the UMID project are the Government Service Insurance System, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Pag-IBIG, Philippine Postal Office, Commission on Election, Social Security System, Land Bank and Philippine Postal Saving Bank.

Through UMID, Filipino citizens need only one type of card that have unique common reference numbers to grant them access to government services.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, NEDA Assistant Director-General Danny Pabellon said the next phase would start in the first week of October. It would still be a full government project and no private sector has been tapped to conduct the project.

Pabellon said that NEDA is still working on the technical specification, the terms of reference and the request for proposals, which is set to be completed by December 2007. The documents are to be finally released by February 2008.

“This would be a build, operate and transfer project. By June 2008, we’ll be approving the contract to the winning bidder and full nationwide implementation will start in July 2008.

Dispelling misconceptions of potential security breaches of UMID, Pabellon noted that only 14 items will be included in the card. These are the cardholder’s name, address, birth date and birthplace, sex, picture, signature, height, weight, marital status, parents’ names, index finger prints and tax identification number.

“All the rest of the information are retained by the respective government agencies. We’ll ensure the security of each of the databases to prevent information theft,” Pabellon reassured.

The UMID is similar to the United States’ Social Security Card, which contains information about American citizens and indexes their employment records, student records and even health and credit card records. While not a requirement, the social security card speeds up processing of government services rendered to individuals.

Moreover, the UMID will not be a required card. Filipino citizens can still get separate cards from the different agencies to access individual services.