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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| National ID and Fraud By Antonio C. Abaya Written March 08, 2005 For the Manila Standard Today, March 10 issue In my previous article �Yes to National ID� (Feb. 22), I had written that �in Sweden, easily one of the most liberal countries in the world, when a baby is born he or she is assigned a personnummer, a personal number, which becomes the permanent numerical basis for his or her identity card for life.� This seems to have been misinterpreted by President Arroyo to mean that even babies are issued identity cards in Sweden, which apparently inspired her to announce that Filipino babies would likewise be covered by identity cards, which will also serve as their birth certificates. (Inquirer, March 4). Some correction is in order. Babies born in Sweden (and other Scandinavian countries) are assigned their personnummer at birth, but the identity cards based on those personnummer are issued very much later. At any rate, that Feb. 22 article drew an email from Tina Peralta, a Filipina residing in Denmark: �Hello, Mr. Abaya. I agree with you on every point you made regarding the national ID card. You know the only people who scream the loudest about such concerns as invasion of privacy, violation of human rights, secrecy laws, Geneva Convention ad nauseam are those people who have plenty of reasons to be insecure, afraid, feel threatened or be paranoid. If one�s character and integrity are virgin white, there are no worries. �In Denmark, you cannot be TNT for long. You cannot be TNT period. If a Filipino has any plans of coming to this country with the pure intention of being illegal � it just cannot be done. You cannot work in this country without a personnummer. If you do work, you have to have a bank account where the salary is deposited. If you have no personnummer, you cannot open a bank account�.. �We cannot transfer house without informing our kommune (the municipio); we cannot transfer doctors without also informing the kommune because they are the ones who will make the changes in our health insurance card. The personnummer is our life. If we do not have that, we cannot have a life, pure and simple. �Being a person with no malintent for my fellowmen, I welcome this number into my life like I welcome spring after the long Danish winter. This card does not only make the lives of the government simple, it also makes our lives extremely orderly. I use this card for everything � from borrowing books in the library to getting my subsidized medications in the apotek, to seeing my doctor for free. We use this number from cradle to grave, just as you mentioned. �I do not understand how our lawmakers are always so cowed by the NPAs, the Abu Sayyaf, the Communists, the terrorists, the criminals, the income tax evaders and all the lowlifes when they shout �Foul!���� It should be kept in mind that Denmark and Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries (Norway, Finland, Iceland) enjoy not only the highest standards of living in the world, but also the least corrupt governments and the most liberal societies, where all shades of political opinions � from monarchist to Maoist � co-exist and compete in an open and democratic milieu. As it gropes its way towards a national identity card, the Arroyo Government should seriously consider employing some consultants from Scandinavia (perhaps as part of their official development aid, so that there will be little or no cost to us) to design an electronic identity system that will address the issue of privacy and at the same time actually improve governance and reduce the opportunities for official corruption. I am puzzled, for instance, why the Arroyo Government wants to start the move towards a national ID card by focusing on the members of the SSS and the GSIS. As far as I know, there is no immediate need to revamp their ID system. On the other hand, there is every reason to focus on our voters� lists, to weed out multiple registrants or flying voters, preparatory to introducing computerized elections (which we have been talking about since the 1980s.) And yet no less than Comelec Commissioner Rex Borra objects to digitalizing the voter�s ID card, even though the Comelec actually started that process in the run-up to the May 2004 elections and has the photo-and-thumbprint ID machines and, presumably, the budget, to proceed with it. Why he suddenly opposes it now suggests he does not want anyone poking around the Comelec premises and files. Is he afraid that someone might discover why two to four million voters (including this writer and his family) were dropped from the voters� lists last May after they had been photographed and thumb-printed for the electronic voter�s ID card, which were never delivered to us? In our present state of disrepair, preventing electoral fraud should be the first priority of an electronic national ID card. Focusing on something else, such as fixing the SSS and GSIS ID cards which are not even broke, shows the Arroyo Government has the wrong priorities. Or, more ominously, it suggests that the electoral fraud in May 2004 will be repeated in 2007 and 2010. ***** Reactions to [email protected] or fax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �National ID and Fraud� Again, you hit the nail on the head. As my foreign friend once commented, "if something is logical, then it will not be done in the Philippines." Our pollution has become so bad that we can no longer think straight. Illogical has become logical, and common sense has become uncommon sense. Nonoy Yulo, [email protected] March 10, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya Filipinos, who are not even properly registered, are now going to be identified with numbers, and the evil woman is not sparing newly-born babies. Fortunately, she is one who does not really know what she is talking about, or she may embark on another spending spree, buying cheap chips from China that are planned to be implanted in the head or hand of citizens of the US for example who are in line for some national numbering as well. Yes, Filipino opponents of this national ID are not alone. There is also a strong opposition against this kind of numbering in other countries like the USA, UK and even Japan. Apparently, this is part and parcel of some globalization deal rather than a sincere desire to establish the identity or straighten the records of Filipinos like how we are properly registered in Japan for easier accounting of people in case of some disaster this disaster-prone archipelago. I am for a straight and proper registration of Filipinos but I am against any scheme that can mean more hardship and misery to the already overburdened citizenry, and merely for taxation purposes because the country's treasury has been drained dry by some mediocre economist who cannot put two and two together, and seemingly thinks she owns the Philippines. In Japan, as we already have a functioning registration system, majority of the people have opposed the planned national numbering system, and so it has become optional and practically nil. Bottomline is that anything that is being done for the wrong reasons will always be bad and not beneficial. IMHO, it is just imperative that this national ID be opposed before it is too late! There are in fact a lot many laws being thought of by these evil officials that should be opposed like one being concocted by Rep. Lagman of Sorsogon, especially one that needs to be prayed about with all sincerity and honesty, and not merely for the purpose of authoring some law that may even be opposed to some higher law authored by the Creator above especially when the problem is not the coming to this world by these little children but responsible and planned parenthood as opposed to Lagman's population control. Yuko Takei, [email protected] Japan, March 11, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, A personal favor pls. She worked in our office before joining the UN many years ago. Please send Tina My Very Best regards. Peter Capotosto, [email protected] March 11, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, I truly appreciate your views as well as those of Ms. Tina Peralta, resident in Denmark, on the national ID card issue. I happen to be in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam where the national ID card is very valuable to its citizens. Its efficiency cannot be measured. There is an effective system under which no dual/multiple registration by anyone has been possible. Sincerely yours, Linda Baisa, [email protected] Vietnam, March 12, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I wonder if you could research on the matter of permanency of the Comelec. I know that stands by constitutional edict. But, to my knowledge, Comelecs everywhere in the world are temporary things and are collapsed after elections. Imagine the savings if we were to abolish the Comelec as a permanent institution. Mari Javier, [email protected] March 12, 2005 MY REPLY. As far as I know, the Comelec is supposed to be working 12 months a year, resolving previous electoral disputes, registering new voters, updating voters lists, etc. At least theoretically. It may be more expensive collapsing the Comelec after every election, and then starting all over again in time for the next. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I really can not understand this preoccupation of lawmakers and administration on the law for establishing a national ID system. I can not understand why a simple executive order can not be issued ordering the GSIS, SSS, local registrars, and other agencies to coordinate and redesign their members ID system for uniformity. I can not understand why it has to be done thru a legislation and risk opposition from those who have reason to hide their identity. I can not understand why with this budget for computerization of local and national agencies information can not be shared on persons identities and make life easier for a significant majority of the population. Why can not they practice the KISS principle "Keep It Simple Stupid". Jorge Matanguihan, [email protected] March 15, 2005 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |