Phlpost upgrades ID card vs identity theft

By Evelyn Macairan​

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) assured the public Friday that the new and improved postal identification card has been beefed up.

“I think it is fully secured. It is almost the same as what other countries have. All of the security features that we could think of, we have put in this card (so it would be difficult to produce a fake postal ID). Unless they have a printing facility that does this kind of thing, which is very expensive for them to invest in,” Assistant Postmaster General for marketing Luis Carlos said.

He issued the assurance after hackers released voters’ information taken from the Commission on Elections database.

Carlos said aside from having a postal reference number, quadratic residue code and guilloche, the Phlpost has added physical security features in the new ID card.
The new card will bear the cardholder’s thumbprint and image, making it more difficult for forgers to duplicate the card.

The cardholder’s information will be stored in Phlpost’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System database, so if the same person applies for another postal ID using a different name, it would raise a red flag and the Phlpost will refuse the application, Carlos said.

He said the database is owned by the corporation, which celebrated its 24th year on Friday, and Phlpost is planning to transfer the information to the government’s Information Communication Technology Office.
The waiting time for a new card is between 13 and 15 days since only the central office is able to manufacture the cards. Phlpost plans to cut down the waiting time to two days once it puts up printing facilities in Cebu and Davao. 

The postal ID card could be used as a secondary form of identification when transacting with some banks. It is also accepted by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The other government-issued IDs are the passport, professional license, GSIS, SSS, driver’s license.

However, these cards would require the applicant meeting other requirements, unlike a postal ID card, which could be made available even to the indigents and unemployed.
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The postal ID is available for P504, inclusive of value-added tax.