MANILA — Lawmakers went after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) during budget deliberations on Wednesday, following complaints on the delayed delivery and faded national ID cards.

"Ang daming complaints na yung ibang may ID na, after 3 months burado, di na siya nabasa, di na siya readable, di na siya visible," House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera said during the 2023 budget of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

"And at the same time na-hack yata yung ating data. So what is the plan of NEDA?" added Herrera, representative of Bagong Henerasyon party-list.

(There are many complaints that after about 3 months, some of the IDs are no longer readable. And at the same time, it seems our data was hacked.)

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Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, who spoke for the agency as sponsor of its budget, denied the hacking claim.

"Una sa lahat, lilinawin ng Philippine Statistics authority na wala pong hacking na naganap. Klaro wala pong naganap na hacking," Quimbo said. "The PSA stands by its data na wala pong ganiyan na nangyari. Hindi po na-compromise ang system ng ating national ID system."

(First of all, the Philippine Statistics authority will clarify that mo hacking happened. It's clear there was no hacking. Nothing like that occurred. Our national ID system was not compromised.)

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Quimbo said all national IDs should be delivered next year, while faded or erased cards would be replaced.

"Inaamin naman po ng PSA na hindi 100-percent perfect ang ating mga IDs so kung kayo ay kasama doon sa kakaunti na nagkaroon ng bura ang ID ay yan naman po ay ire-replace ng PSA," Quimbo said.

(The PSA admits that our IDs are not perfect, so if you are one of the few whose IDs faded, those will be replaced by the PSA.)

Quimbo said the PSA's lawyers are reviewing the liabilities of the printing provider.

"By end of 2022, the PSA will deliver 30 million physical cards and 20 million by the end of June 2023. This number will further increase to 92 million which covers most Filipinos aged 5 above," Quimbo said.

The government initially planned to spend P30 billion until 2024 for the project, said Quimbo. But only P8 billion has been disbursed, with the provider paid upon delivery of the IDs, she said.

Around 8.3 million bank accounts have been opened using the national ID, added the lawmaker.

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