By Marilou M. Aguirre
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY–As if daring the groups opposed to it, vice mayor Sara Duterte said she is in favor of the hotly-debated national ID system, pronounced by the Supreme Court as “unconstitutional” in 1998, but recently revived by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to crush the mounting Communist insurgency .
Princess Sara. Who’s afraid of the national ID system? (davaotoday.com file photo by Cheryll D. Fiel)
“Only those who might be hiding something are afraid of it,” said the young Duterte, who recently assumed the post of acting mayor, after her father, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, filed an indefinite leave of absence to give way to the Ombudsman’s investigation over alleged irregularities in the People’s Park.
The young Duterte said the national ID system would make the delivery of health and other government services move faster.
“With just one swipe (of the card), we will immediately know if a person has received help from the city’s relief program Lingap sa Mahirap or has unpaid taxes,” the acting mayor said in a weekly television program Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa.
But the national ID system, proposed by the AFP, has been facing mounting opposition from Church groups, the academe and people’s organizations, claiming it could infringe on the person’s rights to privacy and freedom of movement, as enshrined in the Constitution.
A person’s fingerprints and personal information could be included in the national ID. Groups opposing it, like the militant Kilusang Mayor Uno (KMU) and some Bishops, argued that the system could be open for abuse; that it would be costly and definitely, not an assurance it could fight threats to national security.
In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled Administrative Order 308, also known as the “national computerized identification reference system,” as “unconstitutional” because it violates the people’s right to privacy and freedom of movement.
The AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) recently recommended its revival to control threats to national security.
After the AFP leadership’s briefing on internal security operations last week, PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. assured the ID system will not infringe on the people’s basic human rights but will provide services like PhilHealth and social security to the people.
But he added that the ID system will stop insurgents, terrorists and criminal elements from hiding beneath the “cloak of anonymity.”
Michael Aportadera, a local news anchorman, said the proposed ID system will allow the state to monitor everything about a person’s life, hence, violating the person’s basic Constitutional right to privacy.
“If government allows the proposal, it would be like nationalizing the dreaded cedula campaign of Gen. Jovito Palparan. Those without ID’s would be immediately labeled as suspects,” said Renato Reyes, national secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). “This can open the floodgates for human rights abuses, including travel restrictions, unreasonable searches and seizures, denial of basic government services and so on.”
“The national ID is nothing but a tool to identify and suppress perceived enemies of the administration, and a false security blanket against crime and terrorism ,” said Partylist Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna. “It will be another weapon of the Arroyo government for assaulting and crushing all legitimate opposition,” said Ocampo, who is also the deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives.
Edre Olalia, president of the International Association of People’s Lawyers, said that the national ID system is a surveillance net that will invade the right to privacy and allow involuntary intrusions to the people’s lives.
Sittie Rajabia Sundang of the KAWAGIB – Moro Human Rights Organization, said the system would give the state agents license to violate the people’s civil and political rights. “It is not an assurance to stop terrorism,” she said. “Instead it would bring more terror, especially in Moro communities.”
Human Rights Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano said he would recommend to the President for the disapproval of the national ID system, and would encourage non-government organizations to file a case to stop it, if the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) find aspects that could violate the people’s right to privacy and civil liberties.
An earlier Supreme Court ruling required Congress to pass an enabling law, before government could implement the national ID system. (Marilou M. Aguirre/davaotoday.com)
