The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in partnership with the World Bank, hosted the NID.Lab, a workshop aiming to encourage research and impact evaluations of the National ID system. 

Representatives from research institutes and relying parties from government agencies and private institutions participate in the NID.Lab hosted by the PSA and World Bank. 

Conducted from 13 to 15 August 2024 at the EDSA Shangri-La in Mandaluyong City, the initiative gathered representatives from local and international research institutes such as the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), Innovations for Poverty Action Philippines (IPA), New York University (NYU), Oxford University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Singapore Management University (SMU), and Digital Impact Alliance (DIA), to name a few.

Also in attendance were relying parties from various sectors: the government such as the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), Home Development Mutual Fund (PagIBIG Fund), , Philippine Statistical Training and Research Institute (PSRTI), local government of Marilao, Bulacan; and private institutions such as PSBank, Asia United Bank (AUB), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), and GCash.

The NID.Lab intends to accelerate evidence-building and capture hard data on the impact of the National ID for Filipinos, businesses, the government, and the economy. This information may be valuable for policymakers and service providers not only in the Philippines but also in other countries.

All attendees were engaged in discussions on developments in the implementation of the National ID system such as registration, the Digital National ID, and use cases in the financial, social protection, and public sector. World Bank representatives also facilitated breakout sessions to allow relying parties to share their National ID integration plans and for researcher participants to explore possible impact evaluation designs. These ideas were presented to all attendees of the workshop for further discussion. 

Sylvan Herskowitz, an economist from the World Bank, facilitates a breakout session during the NID.Lab.

Through the workshop, the PSA intends to develop a research agenda for the National ID with priority themes and questions, to identify possible research designs and studies, form teams to implement them, and to establish a National ID research community.

“The [Republic Act] 11055 [that established the National ID system] was signed in 2018 and since then, the PSA has reached a lot of important milestones. I am elated that we are again entering another critical milestone in building a strong and active research community to measure the impact of this National ID project,” said PSA Assistant National Statistician for the  Marela Lovely Y. Andres while delivering the opening remarks on behalf of Officer-in-Charge, Deputy National Statistician Fred S. Sollesta.

Undersecretary for e-Government David L. Amirol, Jr. of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) also served as resource speaker on the government’s thrust towards digital governance.

The workshop is considered exploratory and does not oblige participants to take part in any subsequent research about the National ID, but attendees were urged to join as observers, advisors, or direct participants.

Quick Links:

• Website: https://philsys.gov.ph
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/PSAPhilSysOfficial 
• Digital National ID: https://national-id.gov.ph/
• National ID eVerify: https://everify.gov.ph/
• National ID Check: https://everify.gov.ph/check

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