MANILA — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) on Monday formally launched the Digital National ID to encourage Filipinos to optimize its benefits.

This is the digital version of the National ID, aimed at simplifying government and financial transactions.

It can be used while waiting for the physical copy of the ID, but the PSA said this would eventually be sufficient for transactions.

"While you dont have the physical card, you have the digital ID, you can download and use it, di na kailangan ang physical card para makapag transaksyon kasi the digital card is sufficient," said Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa of the PSA.

So far, some government agencies such as the DTI, Philhealth, and GSIS are already accepting the digital national ID.

Four banks and e-wallet GCash also recognize digital national IDs in transactions.

PSA and DICT said the national government will soon release memorandums so that all agencies will be able to recognize and accept the digital IDs.

Once integrated, Filipinos will no longer need to queue and fill out new forms every time they transact with the government.

"The target is everybody not just the banks to use it, in schools, hospitals, insurances, everybody," said Frederick Go, Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs.

The DICT said other countries like South Korea are going fully digital in their IDs, and the Philippines has been lagging. 

"Ang Pilipinas very digitalized when it comes to social media, I think we have a very good chance to cope up. Hindi lang basta may national ID, kailangan magamit, kailangan ma automate yung mga agency na paulit-ulit ginagawa," said DICT Undersecretary David Almirol Jr.  

To obtain a copy, one must log on the websites national-id.gov.ph or e.gov.ph, fill out details and take a live selfie. The digital ID can be downloaded and saved in a smartphone.

Those waiting for the delivery of the physical ID can  apply for a digital copy of their ID, but one must be registered in the PSA.

As of today, 87.6 million Filipinos have registered for the National ID, but only 51.6 million IDs have been printed and delivered.

The PSA said it remained committed to addressing its backlogs and that printing of IDs was ongoing.

"Mas mabilis mag-download ng national ID kesa mag print ng card, may machine yun, may limit sa pag-print, the digital national ID would be faster compared to the physical card," Mapa added.

The PSA also assured the public of the tightness of their cybersecurity to ensure there will be no data breaches.