Circularizing PSA Advisory dated May 19, 2021 with Subject "Philippine Identification (PhilID) Cards as the Official Proof of Identity for Transactions with Government and Private Entities"

June 17, 2021 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 79-2021 SUBJECT : Circularizing PSA Advisory dated May 19, 2021 with Subject "Philippine Identification (PhilID) Cards as the Official Proof of Identity for Transactions with Government and Private Entities" TO : All Revenue Officials, Employees and Others Concerned For the information and guidance of all internal revenue officials, employees and others concerned, attached is the full text of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Advisory dated May 19, 2021 with Subject "Philippine Identification (PhilID) Cards as the Official Proof of Identity for Transactions with Government and Private Entities." All concerned are hereby enjoined to be guided accordingly and give this Circular a wide publicity as possible. (SGD.) CAESAR R. DULAY Commissioner of Internal Revenue ATTACHMENT Republic of the Philippines Philippine Statistics Authority Reference No. 21CRS02-05-0798 ADVISORY TO : ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND THE PUBLIC THRU : CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION SUBJECT : Philippine Identification (PhilID) Cards as the official proof of identity for transactions with government and private entities DATE : May 19, 2021 Please be advised that as of 01 May 2021, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) launched the third and final step of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) mass registration: distribution of Philippine Identification (PhilID) cards and PhilSys Numbers (PSN) to successful registrants. Under Republic Act No. 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act, 1 the PhilID card shall serve as the official government-issued identification document of cardholders in dealing with all national government agencies (NGAs), local government units (LGUs), government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), and all private sector entities. As such, the PhilID card shall be accepted as sufficient proof of identity, without the need to present any other identification documents. TDAcCa To further stress the importance of the above-mentioned provisions, the Act penalizes any person or entity who without just and sufficient cause refuses to accept, acknowledge and/or recognize the PhilID card as the only official identification of the holder/possessor with a fine in the amount of Five hundred thousand pesos (PhP500,000.00). Finally, if the violation is committed by government official or employee, the penalty shall include perpetual absolute disqualification from holding any public office or employment in the government, including any GOCCs, and their subsidiaries. Please find in the attached Annex an illustration of the PhilID card and description of relevant security features, which can be used to determine its authenticity. Furthermore, in line with the Government's commitment to personal data protection, tokenization 2 of the PSN has been adopted as a key privacy-by-design and security strategy of the PhilSys. To this end, please be advised that the permanent and irrevocable 12-digit PSN is microprinted on the back face of a registered person's PhilID, which allows the registered person to retrieve their PSN when needed but also, importantly, to prevent others from being able to easily see or capture the PSN. A 16-digit PhilID Card Number (PCN) essentially a public and replaceable token of the PSN that is valid for the life of the PhilID card is printed conspicuously on the front face of the PhilID card, and is intended to be used for authentication purposes. Registered persons are advised not to use their PSN for transactions but instead to use their PCN. Similarly, government agencies and private entities should not request or seed the PSN. The PhilSys will provide another form of token to be stored in databases of relying parties that are integrated with the PhilSys, subject to guidelines that will be issued by the PSA in the near future. Digital authentication and e-KYC using fingerprint, iris, facial, SMS-based One Time Passwords or demographic verification will be launched by PSA towards the end of 2021. These PhilSys-enable Services will allow identity to be verified even without the need for a physical PhilID, using the PCN or other tokens. With this, all concerned government agencies, the private sector and the general public are advised that PhilIDs issued by the PSA shall be the official proof of identity of the cardholder in dealing with all NGAs, LGUs, GOCCs, government GFIs, SUCs, and all private sector entities. For your information and guidance. (SGD.) CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D. Undersecretary National Statistician and Civil Registrar General ANNEX A Illustration of the PhilID card and description of relevant security features Front Back Reference No. 21-PRO-PCPD-05-028 May 21, 2021 CAESAR R. DULAY Commissioner Bureau of Internal Revenue BIR National Office Bldg., BIR Road, Diliman Quezon City SUBJECT : Request for the Inclusion of the Philippine Identification (PhilID) Card as an Acceptable Proof of Identification Dear Commissioner Dulay: Greetings from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)! Republic Act (RA) No. 11055, also known as the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Act, aims to establish a single national identification system to provide a valid proof of identification for all citizens and resident aliens as a means of simplifying public and private transactions. Furthermore, Section 13.c of RA No. 11055 stipulates that the PhilID card of a registered person shall be honored and accepted, subject to authentication, in all transactions requiring proof or verification of identity. EDATSI We wish to inform your office that as of 01 May 2021, the PSA launched the final step of the PhilSys registration, which is the issuance and distribution of PhilID cards and PhilSys Numbers (PSN). As of 15 May 2021, there are already more than 100,000 PhilID cards distributed to successful registrants through the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost), the official delivery partner of the PSA for the PhilSys. In view of the foregoing, the PSA is requesting the Bureau of Internal Revenue to include the PhilID as one of the acceptable supporting documents and valid proof of identity in any transaction with your agency. For reference, please see attached Advisory released by PSA to all government agencies and the public on this matter. We thank you in advance for your support, and we look forward to your prompt action to this request. For any inquiry, your office may contact Ms. Maribelle G. Baluyot, Chief of Planning and Policy Coordination Division of the PSA thru email address [emailprotected]. Thank you very much. Truly yours, (SGD.) DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D. Undersecretary National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Footnotes ATTACHMENT 1. Sections 6-7. 2. Tokenization refers to the substitution of a sensitive data element ( e.g. , a permanent and unique identifier such as the PSN) by non-sensitive equivalents i.e. , a token ( e.g. , PCNs), that have no exploitable value by themselves and can be linked back to the sensitive data element when needed and revoked or rotated when needed.