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Acting National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Karl Kendrick Chua vowed on Wednesday to fast-track implementation of the national identification system especially now that the Philippines is facing the coronavirus disease pandemic.

In the "Laging Handa" virtual press briefing, Chua said the Philippine Statistics Authority, an attached agency of NEDA, is planning to register five million Filipinos this year.

"But I told them if they can speed up the registration. Because once our fellowmen have the national ID, they can be identified already for the various social amelioration programs. And they can also open bank accounts so that the assistance will no longer be cash and door-to-door, which we are currently doing," Chua explained.

He said NEDA is eyeing to complete 80 million to 90 million registrations before the end of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2022.

The former Finance undersecretary said this was one of the marching orders to him by the President when he assumed the NEDA post.

"But we will do this in a safe way because not all can go out and queue, they might spread the virus. So, we will have the safety protocols also," he said.

Duterte earlier said that the distribution of the P200 billion SAP to aid some 18 million low income families could have been faster if the national ID system was implemented fully. Celerina Monte/DMS