DUMAGUETE CITY - The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Negros Oriental is now accepting children and adolescents aged five to 17 years old for registration to the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) provided that their parents are already registered in the same program.

PSA-Negros Oriental provincial chief Engr. Ariel Fortuito, in an interview Wednesday afternoon said children who are still below the age of maturity (18 years and above) will have to be accompanied by a parent or parents upon registration, he said.

Pre-schoolers, or those five years old and above, need not know how to read or write as the system only requires biometrics like fingerprints and eye scanning and not a signature, he added.

Legal guardians of children, however, need to present a valid proof of identity such as a court document, to present to the PSA, he added.

Fortuito said the PSA-Negros Oriental could not say yet how many children have been listed in the national identification system as their office is focusing only on the total number of registrants, which stands at 721,050 as of October 11.

This is 84 percent of the province's target of 854,257 for this year, he added.

The PSA-Negros Oriental visited Canlaon City on Wednesday to assist the local government unit as part of the agency's mobile registration to speed up the listing of residents to the national identification program.

Signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.

The national ID will be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.

It will also boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions. (PNA)