National ID critics have 8 months to block it

MQ7.net | April 23 2005

CRITICS of the national identification system planned by Malacañang will have about eight months to block it.

"I don't think we can implement this immediately," Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin said yesterday in a briefing at the Palace. "I think this will be ready for implementation by next year. There might be partial implementation for agencies that might adopt it immediately, but I don't think so."

Executive Order No. 420, which President Macapagal-Arroyo signed on April 13 and which was deemed to take effect 60 days hence, requires all state agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations to harmonize their ID systems.

But Boncodin said that because of logistical constraints and for practical purposes, state agencies would require more time to finalize the format, the supplier, and the mechanics of the system.

She clarified that the prescribed 60-day adoption period of EO 420 did not set the date for the full implementation of the system but merely the deadline for the completion of the implementing rules.

"I've discussed it with [Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo] Neri, and he said the 60-day period was [for threshing] out the details of the program, such as whether the distribution of the IDs would be centralized or allowed through various agencies adopting the same format," Boncodin said.

No basis for paranoia

In Jakarta, where Ms Arroyo is on a working visit, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye sought to stem the tide of protest by saying that there was no basis for the "paranoia" over the proposed ID system.

"We are not fomenting a surveilled society," Bunye said.

He said that contrary to critics' declared fears of human rights violations, a national ID system would "enable us to interact more closely and more efficiently with government as well as private institutions."

Engaging in shortcuts

But Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Joker Arroyo warned the President that she risked being overturned by the judiciary.

"Why is Malacañang insisting on implementing a system that has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court?" Arroyo said in a phone interview. "Malacañang cannot engage in shortcuts. What's puzzling is [its] penchant for doing things the wrong way."

Pimentel said Ms Arroyo had been misled by her advisers into believing that she could implement such a system by "executive fiat."

He said EO 420 ran counter to the 1998 Supreme Court decision voiding a similar administrative order by President Fidel Ramos on grounds that it constituted usurpation of Congress powers.

"This blunder would only derail the government's desire for the adoption of a national ID system as early as possible," Pimentel said.

But Senate President Franklin Drilon said EO 420 would stand the high court's scrutiny.

"The EO is very clear ... that other information would not be revealed without the consent of the citizen," he said. "The matters contained are matters which the citizen had voluntarily given the agencies concerned-age, status, legal matters."

Joker Arroyo, however, said a national ID system should be brought to Congress for legislation to ensure an open debate on "whether it's appropriate, necessary or constitutional."

Pimentel echoed Arroyo and added: "We maintain that the national ID system, which imposes an additional obligation on the people, cannot be done by the President herself. It can only be done by legislation."

Pimentel has a pending measure seeking the adoption of an ID system that limits to the bare essentials the personal data to be gathered from citizens and prohibits the extraction of sensitive information such as criminal records and health history.

Police state

At the House, Akbayan Representatives Mario Aguja, Loretta Ann Rosales and Risa Hontiveros said the proposed ID system was an ineffective way to ward off terrorist attacks.

They cited an April 2004 study by the London-based Privacy International, a global human rights group present in 50 countries, showing that such a system provided "inept protection" against terrorists.

"The plan is more suited to a police state than a free, democratic country," Aguja said.

Hontiveros said she feared that Malacañang would use the ID system to target and silence its critics.

"Is Malacañang bent on stifling opposition through coercion and state terror? Akbayan fears that this measure will contribute to the attacks and violence committed against legal Left activists," she said.

Rosales said she believed that the ID system would divert limited resources from pressing development concerns.

"[It will] cost the government billions of pesos to integrate and set up a database. Our limited resources could be better spent to deliver basic social services like building more classrooms," she said, adding:

"I would rather have the government seriously investigate the summary execution and disappearance of activists all over the country."

But Eastern Samar Rep. Marcelino Libanan of the ruling Lakas said: "There is no need to be apprehensive or alarmed. It's not a dossier system to identify miscreants or enemies of the state, although it would make it more difficult for criminals to steal the identities of innocent persons.

No cause for alarm

"In fact, EO 420 provides for a strictly confidential use by government of all available data, and the adoption of encryption technology and other systems to prevent data theft and misuse."

Still, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the government could not be trusted with the personal information required in the planned ID system.

"No amount of electronic safeguards will make us feel secure..." said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes.

"We have no way of knowing how the information will be used. There are a million ways to manipulate such information without us even knowing it," he said.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the drafting of EO 420 had "taken into account the objectionable feature" in the Ramos AO.

"That AO was all-encompassing. This one will only cover the government-owned and -controlled corporations," he told reporters in a phone interview.

Communists

Asked how the national ID system could fight terrorism when it would not apply to private persons, Gonzalez said: "The government is infiltrated by the Left."

He added that many suspected communists and even terrorists had friends and relatives working in the government.

Private individuals, too

Gonzalez admitted that the national ID system would eventually cover private individuals.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," he said, ironically quoting the late Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong.

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