The Philippine Statistics Authority encouraged Filipinos to take advantage of the benefits of being registered to the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) by using their PhilID and ePhilID in financial transactions.
It said in a statement posted on its website some 38,099,592 PhilIDs were delivered and 41,620,918 ePhilIDs were printed and downloaded as of Aug. 25, 2023.
The PSA said registered persons could present sufficient and valid proof of identification in various transactions in financial institutions such as opening basic deposit accounts.
BDA, introduced by the BSP in 2018, aims to meet the needs of the unbanked and low-income sector for affordable and easy-to-open bank accounts. It has a low opening deposit requirement of P100 or less, simple identification requirements, no maintaining balance requirement and no dormancy charges.
The PhilSys’ colocation efforts with the Land Bank of the Philippines were recently cited by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in the 170-percent increase in the number of BDAs opened to 21.9 million in the first quarter of 2023 from 8.1 million in the same period in 2022.
The strategy contributed to the opening of 7.5 million additional BDAs in the fourth quarter of 2022, allowing Filipinos who previously did not have banking access to open transaction accounts conveniently after completing PhilSys registration, free-of-charge, and with no initial deposit and maintaining balance required.
“As more registered persons receive their PhilID and ePhilID, we encourage them to use it in their transactions with financial institutions to gain access to financial services and products that can open opportunities for them,” PSA national statistician and civil registrar-general Claire Dennis Mapa said.
Mapa said the PSA, in partnership with BSP and the Philippine Postal Corp., continues to expedite the printing and delivery of PhilIDs to registered persons nationwide.
Replacements of PhilIDs affected by the Manila Central Post Office fire in May 2023 were recently turned over to PHLPost for delivery.
The PSA personnel are also actively issuing ePhilIDs through plaza-type and house-to-house distribution.
