(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte said that a national ID system would have helped the Philippine government in identifying the poor families and other individuals in need of immediate cash assistance.
The President again went on national television on Monday night, April 13, 2020, to address concerns on the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Duterte said that the if the national ID had just been placed earlier, the process of giving cash amerioration to the poor and middle income groups would have been easier.
“I’ll go to the point now of our discussions for today. We are facing — nagkakaroon tayo ng problema. Hindi ito perfect kaagad especially so na noon pa sinabi namin ‘yung national ID makatulong,” he said.
The problem he said was that some proponents, including Left-leaning groups were preventing certain members of the poor sector to enlist for national ID.
-Duterte blames the Left-
“Ang problema nito ang proponent na ayaw or the proponents of the ‘don’t’, itong mga left. Kaya kita mo ngayon wala tayong ID system until now,” he said.
“Kung may ID system lang tayo, naiwasan natin itong mga ‘to,” Duterte explained. “Because all we have to do — ang kailangan lang namin tanungin namin ‘yung DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government), ilang tao ‘yang barangay na ‘yan, then ipadala namin ‘yung pagkain at kunin na lang ninyo doon sa tindahan ninyo or the disposal point wherever it is, ipakita mo ‘yung card mo, ibigay sa iyo,” he said.
President Duterte signed into law the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Act on August 6, 2018. The law seeks to establish a single identification system for all citizens and resident aliens.
Duterte said that there were people, especially those who believed groups linked to communist organizations, who refused to be listed when the government conducted a census, or they refused to give correct details. He said that this is no longer the government’s fault.
“Ngayon ayaw ninyo, ‘yung iba ayaw magpalista. You are not a — hindi ka nakatira sa barangay na ito or nakatira ka sa barangay B or C. Kaya noong nagse-census ang mga barangay pati ‘yang DILG, kung wala kayo sa listahan, then hindi kayo mabigyan. Hindi na kasalanan ‘yan — huwag kayong magturo sa gobyerno kasi ginawa namin ang lahat noon pa kaya gusto nga namin may ID eh naniwala naman kayo sa mga left, mga komunista, eh ‘di sige. Doon kayo maniwala, may eleksyon na dadating. Doon kayo kasi mahaba pa ‘to,” he said.
-PHL gov’t addressing the problem, says Duterte-
He said that this is what the Philippine government is now addressing. He said that mayors and barangay captains should now identify these individuals who are not in the government’s list but who should be given financial assistance.
“Iyan ang problema. So inaayos namin ‘yan. Gusto ko lahat mabigyan. Ayaw kong may mamatay ni isang Pilipino na gutom. Kaya may another survey tayo madalian. Ang dapat diyan barangay captain because that is your duty, inyong duty ‘yan and the mayors to determine sino ‘yang hindi nasali sa listahan at mabigyan kaagad,” Duterte said.
He also mentioned flying voters who did not register in their localities.
“Kayong mga flying voters noon, kung saan-saan kayo nagboto ayan. Hindi namin malaman ngayon kung nasaan kayo. ‘Pag tawag, wala naman kayo. So that is really a problem. It is a problema that confronts government. Problema ninyo, problema namin. But kung magdating na tayo sa laro ng sisihan, the blame game, eh magunawa sana ninyo kung ano ang talagang sitwasyon ‘yung totoong realidad ng buhay natin,” he said.
President Duterte said he is now tasking Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Bautista to identify these individuals who did not enlist before with the government.
In the meantime, these groups will have to wait as the government is sure to reach all these 18 million low-income families
“Kung naman talagang wala kang kita, wala kang trabaho, naturally I said after a reevaluation or revalidation at malaman na namin, I’m sure Secretary Bautista can act immediately tutal kunin lang naman ‘yan. And sabi ko nga hindi sabihin na kung wala ka, wala ka ng — purnada ka na. It’s not that. But kung wala ka, maghintay ka and we will come up — alam ko sigurado,” he said.
Duterte said he would not allow any Filipino to die from hunger.
In September last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that they were “on the course of its strategic blueprint for the implementation of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).”
“We are on track to have the system fully operational and to start the mass registration by mid-2020, and complete the enrollment of the population by mid-2022,” Undersecretary Dennis S. Mapa, National Statistician and Civil Registrar, said in a statement
In 2019, the PSA “has finished procuring the registration kits – one of the five (5) major procurement blocks of the program,” the PSA said.