MORE than 14 million national identification cards had already been distributed, according to the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost).
PhilPost Chief Executive Officer Norman N. Fulgencio told a televised news briefing that 14.03 million out of the 14.8 million national IDs due for delivery had been released as of July 8.
There are still more than 700,000 IDs to be distributed as of July 8, he said, although that number may have already been reduced to 50% as of the briefing.
“By tomorrow (July 19), we will get our latest update report,” he added.
The government has been criticized for delays in the distribution of the national ID cards.
“Our job is to deliver them,” Mr. Fulgencio said. “Once we receive them, we need to deliver them.”
As of June 1, about 67 million individuals have already registered for the national ID, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The government is targeting to have 92 million registered by the end of the year, according to National Economic and Development Authority Director-General Arsenio M. Balisacan.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ordered Mr. Balisacan last week to speed up the printing and distribution of more than 50 million national ID cards so these can be used by early 2023. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
