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Why the military is pushing it
THE Armed Forces of the
Philippines and the Philippine National Police are urging President
Arroyo to revive the national identification plan for Filipinos for
two reasons.
A national ID system will help
end the communist insurgency and reduce crime, according to the AFP
and the PNP.
Having a new ID card will
guarantee faster service in government agencies, say the army and
the police, and perhaps in private offices, too.
To make the plan more appealing,
the generals and the police superintendents add that with a
“unified” ID, Filipinos do not have to carry that many cards on
their person.
In addition, the ID will
incorporate only 11 pieces of information on every citizen,
including name, address, sex, marital status, birthday, thumb mark,
the names of his parents and a national reference number.
The plan could be carried out in
two phases, first for government employees, and, second, for 85
million Filipinos, from babies to senior citizens.
An administrative order could
launch the first phase. Congress will pass an enabling law for the
next.
The plan looks simple and
appealing. Get a national ID card and you solve many problems,
principally the 35-year-old New People’s Army insurgency and
chronic crimes. You get faster service at government offices.
Why we don’t need it
We do not see how a national ID
card can help end the insurgency or curb lawlessness. The AFP and
the PNP have not told us how. Of course a suspicious-looking person
without an ID deserves interrogation. Or a person with one but still
looks suspicious must be further checked out.
Filipinos are masters at forgery
and have begun to become experts at identify theft. It is not
difficult for anyone to have a spurious ID card to present to the
lawmen. And the police could not tell a real ID from a fake.
We do not think having a new card
will facilitate service at the city hall or at a national agency.
The current cards are already serving that purpose. A citizen with
the new laminated ID will get the usual service. The card will not
reduce waiting lines, eliminate fixers or reduce red tape.
The military says the new card is
designed to replace existing cards: GSIS, SSS, Philhealth, Post
Office, Comelec ID, Professional Regulatory Commission and
driver’s license. But these cards were issued for a specific
purpose. They serve a specific transaction between a citizen and a
government office. But the new card brings the citizen closer to
state scrutiny.
The new ID program is expensive,
costing billions. Guess what mess could attend the public bidding.
Guess who will want to make a profit.
The goal, according to the PNP
chief, is to issue every Filipino, including children, the new
document. Eight-five million cards are a businessman’s paradise.
Carrying the card will be
mandatory or it would lose its teeth. But having to carry one
everyday by every member of the family will take the spontaneity out
of our lives. Each time we leave home, we have to make sure it’s
on our body, lest we are accosted or detained. What inconvenience!
Every Filipino will have a
lifetime reference number, from birth to death. Why not, according
to a congressman who is deceased, just have the number tattooed on
our arms for economy?
The biggest reason for rejecting
the national ID system is its threat to privacy and the potential
for abuse.
The proposed ID system needs a
national databank to store, collate, update and analyze information.
The databank requires an army of salaried encoders, technicians,
researchers, analysts and managers to do the job, using
sophisticated technology.
To justify the salaries and
equipment, the housekeeping and maintenance costs, and all related
expenses, the system will not stop at asking only 11 pieces of
information. An effective ID system will want to know everything it
could on a citizen, a continuing dossier.
When was the last time Citizen
Joe was hospitalized? For what reason? When was his last travel?
What organizations does he belong to? What are his hobbies? What is
his credit-card history?
Citizen Joe will not have access
to the information. But the information can be used against him by a
member of the army or the police, a databank worker, a politician or
anyone wishing to make money.
A single false entry, a wrong
piece of information, could be fatal. It could cause a great deal of
inconvenience, as many law-abiding applicants for a police or NBI
clearance have found out. The wrong information could haunt a
citizen for life because it would be difficult to detect and to
correct.
The current ID cards work. We
don’t need a new one produced by a data-hungry machine at the
service of the military and the police.
The way to fight insurgency and
crime is to bring down poverty and improve the system of justice.
Violence will abate when every Filipino has a stake in society and
is assured justice, peace and a decent life.
President Arroyo is ill advised
on the national ID plan. A national identification system that
intrudes into our life is a bad legacy. The administration could
guarantee there would be no abuse and wrongdoing. But it cannot
speak for the next regime.
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