Roughly 92 percent of residents in Iloilo have now registered for the Philippine Identification System as of Thursday, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA Iloilo Chief Statistical Specialist Jerry Dolutan shared that 2,345,027 individuals have completed registration since the program’s initial launch in February 2021.
For this year alone, 64,369 individuals signed up, a figure that includes 14,139 children aged four and under, along with 4,093 senior citizens.
“We have registered almost 92 percent of our population, and we do not stop. We have an ongoing mobile registration. We go around the province in coordination with our local government units,” Dolutan said.
According to the 2024 census, the province of Iloilo has 2,082,616 residents, while Iloilo City records a population of 473,728.
Dolutan noted that the remaining eight percent yet to sign up primarily consists of overseas Filipino workers and citizens enrolled in different social protection initiatives.
Walk-in applicants can register from Monday to Saturday at the PSA Iloilo Provincial Office or visit the satellite center at SM City Iloilo. Mobile teams also continue to conduct field registrations across towns.
While obtaining a National ID is voluntary, Dolutan stressed its growing importance for state agencies tasked with verifying public aid recipients.
“This is one way for the government to authenticate and verify to ensure that the programs are availed by legitimate beneficiaries,” he said.
To boost coverage, the PSA has partnered with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to conduct co-location registration during payouts for the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport program, where presenting a National ID is mandatory.
Starting July 27, the agency will collaborate with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) branch in La Paz, Iloilo City, to assist unregistered members.
Field teams will also join payout events for the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) emergency cash-for-work initiative.
Beyond new registrations, the office manages requests for data corrections. Dolutan noted that 6,892 residents have updated their records, mostly to reflect changes in marital status. The local office is currently waiting for central office guidelines before rolling out biometric updates, which are undergoing pilot testing.
Meanwhile, physical card distribution is temporarily paused as the PSA transitions to managing both card printing and logistics—roles previously handled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Postal Corporation, respectively.
In the interim, PSA Iloilo has distributed 47,319 paper-format National IDs to registrants.