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Contents 1 National Identification System in the Philippines 2 Why We Should Oppose the Philippine National I.D. System 2.1 Why should we oppose it? 2.2 Is the card likely to be compulsory? 2.3 How would such a system work? 2.4 What are the supposed benefits claimed by the government? 2.5 What are the dangers-- abuses that can be committed using the ID system? 2.6 What can ordinary citizens do? 3 References 4 Speedy deletion of Veritas Prep

[edit] National Identification System in the Philippines

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the immediate implementation of the national identification system after the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday on the constitutionality of Executive Order 420 that mandates all agencies under the Executive branch to adopt a unified, multi-purpose ID system.

"President Arroyo has given the go-signal to the Cabinet to get the ID system on track for immediate implementation," Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said in a statement.

Bunye noted that the Supreme Court, in ruling that EO 420 is constitutional, did not only contribute to national security but also in the facilitation of important government programs and services to the people.

"We acknowledge and appreciate the Supreme Court decision not only for its contribution on national security but its effect in facilitating the delivery of vital government programs and services to the Filipino people," he said.

The Press Secretary also allayed fears that the implementation of the unified ID system would encroach into the privacy of the citizens and violate human rights as there are only 14 specific data required (by the ID system) and these data are also asked in other IDs such as in the passport, the Social Security System ID or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) card.

"Issues adverting to infringement of human rights are phantom fears, and the system has enough safeguards to protect the citizen from imagined violations of the right to privacy," he assured.

Bunye also said that with a national ID system in place, the Filipinos could now keep up with the rest of the world as he noted that progressive and strong nations adopt a compulsory ID system.

There are around 100 countries with a compulsory ID system, including democracies like Spain, France, Greece and Portugal. Although the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand do not have ID systems, they implement sectoral cards for health, social and public services.

SC, in declaring EO 420 constitutional, said the ID system only applies to the Executive branch of government and "does not extend to the judiciary or to the independent constitutional commissions."

EO 420, according to the SC, "applies only to government entities that already maintain ID systems and issue ID cards pursuant to their regular functions…and does not grant such government entities any power that they do not already possess under existing laws."

President Arroyo issued EO 420 on April 13 last year but its constitutionality was challenged by two petitions filed by Kilusang Mayo Uno and Bayan Muna Partylist Rep.

[edit] Why We Should Oppose the Philippine National I.D. System

Read the Filipino version Read the Facts and Fallacies

..And the truths that they are hiding from us

Introduction.

The terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 have revived proposals for a national identity card system throughout the world as a way to monitor and detect every movement and transaction of every citizens suspected of terrorism or of crime.

The newest calls for a national ID are only the latest in a long series of proposals that have cropped up repeatedly over the past decade, usually in the context of immigration policy, but also in connection with gun control or health care reform, or in fighting crime. These countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Thailand, and many more.

Attempts to create national ID cards in the US, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, United Kingdom failed due to strong public opposition. Most dramatic of this opposition is the Australian experience in 1987. Just last Nov. 2003, the British cabinet decided to shelf the ID plan until about 2013 because of months of public outrage. In the United States, the proposal was revived and the heated debate continues.

In the Philippines, the adoption of the national ID system came as early as 1996, under former President Ramos (A.O. 308), when terrorism as we know it today never existed. There was public uproar and the Supreme Court in 1998, upon the petition of a civil liberty minded senator, aborted it when it decided that the presidential order was unconstitutional because “…A.O. No. 308 pressures the people to surrender their privacy by giving information about themselves on the pretext that it will facilitate delivery of basic services. Given the record-keeping power of the computer, only the indifferent will fail to perceive the danger that A.O. No. 308 gives the government the power to compile a devastating dossier against unsuspecting citizens.”

In a separate opinion, SC Justice Romero described it in this way, “So terrifying are the possibilities of a law such as Administrative Order No. 308 in making inroads into the private lives of the citizens, a virtual Big Brother looking over our shoulders, that it must, without delay, be "slain upon sight" before our society turns totalitarian with each of us, a mindless robot.”

However, after 7 years of defeat, it resurrected using 9/11 and terrorism as an excuse. The government of Pres. Gloria Arroyo revived the plan with zeal and certified the bill to Congress as urgent on her Dec. 1, 2003 press statement. Many fear that pressuring congress to pass a bill in such a short time will prevent it from conducting public consultations to hear the sides of all sectors.

The Filipino people should now decide whether to just to let the government take their civil liberties before their eyes unchallenged or let the strong voice of opposition to the ID system be heard, just like what the intelligent citizens of other nations did.

[edit] Why should we oppose it?

The government believes they have majority support for the ID because of very soft opposition to it; this is simply due to the fact they are not telling the people how exactly will the system work. Similarly, 85% of the Britons initially supported their ID system after 9/11, but the level of support dropped to ground levels as the public’s understanding improved.

But the government also knows it is standing on weak ground when it begins to resort to moronic answers to its critics, such as the popular, “If you are not a criminal or have nothing illegal to hide, why should you fear the national ID system?” This kind of reasoning reflects a desperate person with no arguments and no answers. This will also anger the peoples of other nations such as the Britons who strongly opposed the ID; are all of them bunch of criminals and felons? In the succeeding paragraphs it will be presented how the ID card would not help catch a single criminal, but instead would criminalize many thousands of innocent citizens. But it is tempting to reciprocate the government’s moronic argumentation with an equally idiotic one, “Then pass a law that will ban the closing of private mails and correspondences, house doors, bathrooms since keeping these things closed may mean a person is hiding a crime or something illegal in them!”

Thus, we should strongly oppose it because the creation of a national I.D. card remains a misplaced, superficial expensive "quick fix." It will only bring

• a false sense of security and will not enhance our security. This will just make the law enforcers lazy in doing good police and intelligence work;
• serious threats to our civil liberties and civil rights, such as right to privacy; a mere suspicion to one’s private activities may result to arrests, etc.;
• potential abuses that will ruin the lives of innocent people;
• a very expensive undertaking for a third world country, where food, basic education, and health care should be a priority;
• risks in maintaining data accuracy due to the vast network of computer database that the govt will operate, having a tract record of inefficiency in the local bureaucracy.

If highly developed countries such as the UK, US, Australia fear the grave abuses that might arise from using such system, what more of a third world country like the Philippines, which is known for its immature, vindictive politics and the perceived corruption of the government bureaucracy and law enforcement agencies?

What is a National ID card? How is it different from other ID cards?

What the ordinary Filipino masses do not realize is that the national ID card is not the ordinary harmless laminated plastic ID card that we receive from schools or employers, that only contains our picture, signature and basic information on ourselves. The National ID card are often called smart cards because it has a microchip that can store huge amount of data about ourselves and can access and be read by computer database networks. It will consolidate all the IDs we have into one- SSS/GSIS, Pag-Ibig, TIN, PhilHealth, Voter’s ID, Driver’s license, PRC, Census’ Population Ref. No., NBI and police clearance, etc.. There will be sharing of information between these agencies. But eventually, since the investment for the information technology infrastructure of the system is huge, the government may also invite the private sector to share the cost, which means they will also have access to it, and such may also become our employment IDs, etc..

3 types of card can be used for the national ID system:

1. Laminated plastic cards with a magnetic strip at the back. This is similar to the cards used in ATM machines and credit cards. On the surface we could see a digital photo of ourselves, a digitalized signature and thumb mark, and most important ourr name and a computerized identification reference number of ourselves. Within the magnetic strip is stored, our other biometric data like height, weight, complexion, address, beneficiaries, income, etc.. This type of media stores lesser amount of data and costs less, which the government might find attractive in the initial phases of implementation. But nevertheless the codes stored in the magnetic media can be used to access databases in remote storage facilities that can read or write enormous amount of data to your records via wired networks, much like a bank’s ATM.

2. Laminated plastic cards with an embedded micro memory chip. The microchip is similar to the sim card we use in mobile phones that can store greater amount of data than that of the magnetic strip. Best example of this is Mercury Drug’s loyalty “Suki” card or National Bookstore’s “Laking National” card that embedded the chips to the card. Compared to the magnetic strip card, the per unit cost is slightly higher but the rewards are it can store your entire curriculum vitae in it, including health records, police records, family history, etc.. The government will only have to procure portable card readers/terminals, instead of investing in wired networked systems to read and update data in the card. Once the technology infrastructure is completed, the government will shift to this for sure.

3. Bio-implantable microchip. It is a tiny microchip, the size of rice, that is simply placed under the skin. It is so designed as to be injected simultaneously with a vaccination or alone. According to a promotion literature, it is ingenious, safe, inexpensive, foolproof and permanent method of identification that can be read from the body via radio waves. This system is said to be made by the Hughes Aircraft Company. In the long term, this may be adopted to prevent card theft.

[edit] Is the card likely to be compulsory?

It is funny that the government, in its 1996 primers for AO 308, is trying to avoid the word “compulsory” in discussing the ID system, saying not everybody would be allowed to carry it forcibly. However, they are pushing it for the supposed efficiency in transacting with the government, esp. in the availment of basic services like medicare services, applications for driver’s license, TIN, marriage license, police clearance, business permits, SSS/GSIS benefits, voting, opening of bank accounts, employment, etc.. These services cover almost every facet of daily living that it would be extremely difficult for a person to live in a society without it. Also its supposed use of preventing terrorism would entail the people to be subjected to ubiquitous checkpoints to random ID checks, with police empowered to detain people based on their failure to produce their ID card. Thus, we will be compelled to carry one at all times, even if they don’t force us to.

[edit] How would such a system work?

Any national ID system will have the following key components: an identity verification system, input devices, databases, a card, output devices, card verification system, software, mainframe super computers, network & communication systems, and the personnel to operate it.

1. Registration process. The citizen or resident will register to a designated agency and bring documents to prove his identity, fill up comprehensive personal information sheets and let his biometric data captured or scanned (photo, signature, thumbprints or iris) to be used to verify if the person presenting the issued card is its real owner. The person will be issued a computerized reference ID number and the information will be stored both in the computer-based population database and the memory chip/ magnetic strip of your card.

If the government feels there is opposition to it, it can work around the system and let the people register in national ID substitutes that can be easily converted to the “real thing” in the future. Accordingly, In the US, they were using the Driver’s license card. Here, is it the voter’s ID?

2. Operating the I.D. system. In the initial stages, its operation is relaxed and its use may not be compulsory, until both the government and the private sector can complete the technological infrastructure for it like the hardware for telecommunication and networked systems, PC workstations and terminals, smart card readers in govt agencies, buildings, offices, shops, etc.. But it can be observed that most shops nowadays do have cash registers that can read mag stripe cards and many offices already have electronic magnetic card entry system on doors.

When availing of government services, buying in shops and malls, entering buildings, riding public transport system (MRT, airports, etc.), applying for employment or bank accounts, confining to hospitals, going into libraries, etc , we will present our card. The card will be read by machine card readers and our personal data, photo, etc., will appear on the computer display, or will be printed on receipts or on cash register screens. If the transaction is with a government agency, our biometric will be captured, like thumbmark scanning, to verify if the ID is really ours.

There are two ways in which the computers will read info from our ID card. If the terminal is offline or is a portable device, it can only read the info coming from the microchip or mag stripe in our card. However, if the machine is online and connected to a network, it will only use the ID and our reference number as a logon tool to access greater information about ourselves from the central population database. If the needed info about ourselves cannot be found on the population database, it can search other databases from other agencies, or the private sector, using our computerized reference number as the index key & using relational database system techniques.

After the transaction, the machines will write a transaction code, establishment number and a date and time stamp on our cards, and at the same time, update the info on the database. If the terminal is not online, it will simply upload the transaction to the main database at a later time. However, if the private sector does not agree to the government having access to their private databases, they could either just maintain a separate transaction trail database for future inquiry by the government; or they can simply upload these transactions via modem, in the same way that banks do today when you pay SSS, taxes or other bills through them.

Nevertheless, the transactions are already imprinted on our cards and we carry it wherever we go. And at the end of the day, authorized people in the government or the private sector or the police who have access to the databases or our cards can print a transaction trail or log and see what we did, what we ate, where we go, how much we earned, what movies we watched for the day!

The whole system will be pointless for security reasons if they will not install random checkpoints with portable machine card readers throughout the country to check if we are a terrorist or not. It will criminalize many thousands of absent-minded, forgetful and inefficient people!

More important than the issue of other people viewing our day’s activities, is the process involved in writing, adding, editing or deleting of information in our database and in the card. In these systems, not everybody should be authorized to write or edit the master files. Most likely, terminals that can edit the info can be placed in law enforcement agencies, hospitals, SSS, BIR, local government units, private sector(?), etc.. Once information are added, like an alleged crime we committed or a traffic violation we are accused of, it will be appended to the master database file permanently and will be stored in the card we carry. The government, presumable, can also effect the cancellation or confiscation of our cards for some reason or another. In these instances, we will be cut off from society because nobody will transact business with us if you don’t have a card.

An innovation than can be added to the system as the technology becomes less expensive is the addition of micro electronic components in the ID card that can let satellites track its holder wherever he maybe via the Global Positioning System (GPS).

[edit] What are the supposed benefits claimed by the government?

The government claims that the ID system can improve and facilitate the delivery of basic services to the people.

How? Is the ID a magical panacea for removing graft and corruption in the bureaucracy? If they think it is in the ID, then what will be the use of the various “tamper-proof” magnetic stripe ID cards recently issued by the government like the SSS/GSIS ID, Postal ID, Drivers’ license, Voters’ ID, etc.? Are they not enough? Are they mere waste of taxpayers’ money?

Another compelling reason for the national ID, according to the government, is the prevention of crime and terrorism.

Another big HOW? As to intelligence gathering, the current legal procedures are sufficient for law enforcement agencies to obtain evidence from suspected criminals and terrorists by simply asking the courts to issue search warrants, upon presentation of a reasonable and probable cause. They can also subpoena social security records, medical, employment records, etc. in their investigations. Why subject everyone, including the innocent majority (at the expense of a handful of criminals), to surrender their privacy through the ID? Do they want to bypass the courts and the legal procedures to arrest suspected criminals and terrorist without due process, only on the basis of speculative evidence gathered through the transaction trails of the ID?

The international civil society are also of the opinion that should a national ID system existed in the US, it could not have thwarted the September 11 terrorists/hijackers because many of whom reportedly had valid identification documents on them, and were in that country legally. Unless of course, the proponents of the ID have other things in mind to make it work- use of the ID in conjunction with a totalitarian state, where the government dictates to the people what to do and not to do like mindless robots!

[edit] What are the dangers-- abuses that can be committed using the ID system?

Hollywood has produced numerous movies highlighting the dangers of allowing the state to invade the privacy of its people through electronic means. Scariest among them were Sandra Bullock’s The Net , Will Smith’s Enemy of the State, and Schwarzenegger’s Eraser.

The Dangers of committing abuses to human dignity and freedom outweighs its supposed benefits.

Some of these are enumerated below:

1. High crimes. It can be used by tyrannical rulers or heads of state to oppress certain classes of people who differ from their point of view, ideas, racial origin, religion or simply those whom they consider as threat to their continued rule. Historically, this has already been done.

During World War II, supposedly confidential Census Bureau information in the US was used to identify and imprison Japanese-Americans. Worst was the infamous Third Reich in Nazi Germany which enabled the racial categorization of Jews by requiring them to carry an ID.

2. Discrimination and harassment. Due to lack of privacy, a person can be discriminated both in availing basic services and in dealing with the private sector such as applying for employment, on the bases of racial origin, religion, family background, sexual orientation, political beliefs, history of drug usage, past felony or erroneous or planted record of an imaginary crime you committed.

Best example of this is Winne Monsod’s denial of a visa to the US due to an entry in the database that she’s a “suspicious character” involved in the underground. While US embassy officials explained that was just an error; worst could have happened if she is just an ordinary person.

The people will be faced with a bigger problem if the private sector, like employers, will be allowed to write on the databases and cards. Bad employment records, whether true or imagined, will ruin a person’s career; much more it can harass union members to exchange collective bargaining rights for favorable annotations on the employment records to be imbedded in the card.

3. Kidnapping and blackmailing by “hoodlums in uniform”. Syndicates and corrupt members of the police can easily spot potential kidnap victims by viewing their tax records and where they hang around often. The system could also be used to extort money through blackmailing of one’s “secrets” or through threat of fabricating crimes on your police records.

4. Political vendetta by local officials and “warlords”. . It is not uncommon in the Philippines for local government officials to get back at constituents who did not vote for them by denying them of basic services. This can be easily done by browsing who the person voted for through the card.

5. Prejudged and speculative evidence. It was reported that during the 1980s, at the height of the cold war, FBI was getting intelligence info from libraries on people expressing interest on books on Marxism and Eastern Europe! Intellectual curiosity, as well as variation in personal habits will be suppressed for fear of being in the police list of suspected terrorists.

6. Errors of omission and computer glitches. Even innocent data errors, misidentified thumbprints or damaged cards could turn away an individual’s ability to move freely to places, or purchase food, or can even make them unemployable until the government fixed their “files”. Data inaccuracy in police records could pave way to false arrests and detentions.

7. High tech crimes. Criminal syndicates will also go high tech, and might engage in ID card cloning, identity theft or switching of bio-metric data to commit crime undetected.

8. Abuse of the transaction trails by selling them to marketing firms, credit investigators, salesmen, private detectives, etc..

9. Further marginalization of the poor because the authorities can easily assess their financial capability to hire lawyers, in case their database are muddled by mistake or by malicious intention.

10. Apocalyptic thinking. You existence being reduced into numbers and a plastic card- your reference number can be erased or deleted from the computer any time by a “beast”.

In public debates about the national ID system, always demand from government officials detailed and specific answers to questions about the system, like “who will be authorized to view, write or edit data on the cards?”; “What will be the design of the ID chip they have in mind?”; Will the private sector be allowed to access the databases?”; “Who owns the card- the state or the person?”; “Who will finance the budget for the system?”; “How will the transaction trails be used?”; “Who will check possible abuses?”; “How exactly they will use it to prevent crime and terrorism?”, etc..

Finally, our best hope against the abuses is not to lead the government into temptation, and to reject the national ID system before they get started. As the good Justice put it, “…it must, without delay, be "slain upon sight" before our society turns totalitarian with each of us, a mindless robot.”

[edit] What can ordinary citizens do?

1. Reprint or Xerox this leaflet and distribute it (or forward the email message, unaltered) to your friends, relatives, officemates, employees, classmates, chatmates, neighbors or concerned people who you think will be interested in this advocacy (but please avoid spamming email boxes). We will keep the people informed through electronic means. The nationwide installation of military checkpoints was designed to prevent the movement of information and mass actions, in the guise of counter-terrorism measures.

2. Civil society, religious groups, organizations, and socially responsible entrepreneurs can support this advocacy by funding the printing of this material and effect its wide distribution to Filipinos with no access to the internet. Printer ready PDF files can be downloaded, free of charge, from the website, either in English or Filipino. But please don’t send money to us or to anybody else. This movement has no central organization nor office nor a name. It is a selfless effort of individual men and women of goodwill everywhere, working in unison, for the common good.

3. Vote only for candidates who will promise and categorically reject the National ID System once elected. For NGOs and the organized sector, lobby that the platform of government of those running for public office will contain a promise to protect the people’s civil liberties and will categorically reject the implementation of the National ID System.

4. Oppose any move or legislation to censor the internet. The “Anti Email Spamming Law” in the US, while on the surface will benefit us by de-clogging our mailboxes of junk and unsolicited mails, was designed, in a subtle way, to block free flow of information over the internet.

5. Urge your Parish priests, Bishops, Pastors, Ministers or religious leaders to organize prayer rallies to promote solidarity in your community to oppose the ID system. This issue has a moral/religious dimension for it endangers the dignity and freedom of the human person. And be sure to join and support this peaceful mass actions.

6. Call TV and radio stations, join public forums, online bulletin boards, send text messages, join peaceful marches and non-violent protests. Your voice and concerns should be heard everywhere.

[edit] References

http://www.geocities.com/no2idNOW

Privacy International in UK position papers

American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Network position paper

Electronic Frontier Foundation position paper, USA

Philippine Supreme Court en banc decision no. 127685 declaring AO 308, Unconstitutional, July 1998

Philippine A.O. 308- Adoption of a National Computerized Identification Reference System, Dec. 1996

“Gov't to push for national I.D. system – Palace”, Malacanang Press release via Ignacio Bunye, spokesman of Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo, Dec. 2003

Holy Bible

Movies- “The Net”, “Eraser”, “Enemy of the State”

Volunteer researchers and IT professionals

Privacy International, position papers

American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Network, position paper

Electronic Frontier Foundation USA, Position paper

Liberty, human Rights group in UK"

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Book of Revelations, Holy Bible

Church's Teachings on Freedom and human rights

Participation of Catholics in Politiacal Life

Bill of Rights, 1987 Phil. Constitution

Philippine Supreme Court en banc decision no. 127685 declaring AO 308, Unconstitutional, July 1998

SC Justice Romero's separate opinion

Philippine A.O. 308- Adoption of a National Computerized Identification Reference System, Dec. 1996

”Gov't to push for national I.D. system – -Malacanang Palace, Dec 1, 2003”

New Senate Bill No. 1832, Reviving the National ID System authored by Sen. Ping Lacson and endorsed by Malacanang

Can we trust the government in computerizing our national ID system? Read: Philippine Supreme Court Decision junking the Computerization of the May 2004 election

Executive Order 420 by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reviving the National ID System without any legislation

April 2006 Philippine Supreme Court Decision dismissing the petition to invalidate Executive Order 420. The High Court came up with the decision after Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed a new Chief Justice replacing the retired SC Justice Davide.

[edit] Speedy deletion of Veritas Prep

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