Arroyo Gov’t Pushing
ID System Amid Snowballing Opposition
Interior and
Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes proposed the establishment of a
national ID system in the wake of the so-called Valentine’s Day bombings
in three major cities: Makati, Davao, and General Santos.
The proposal to establish a
national ID system comes at a time when the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration is facing a confluence of opposition based on various
issues.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Malacañang is showing no signs of
buckling down to opposition to the proposed national identification (ID)
system. The opposition ranges from human rights organizations and other
cause-oriented groups to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s own allies in
Congress.
The national ID system is being
resurrected at a time when the Macapagal-Arroyo administration is facing
challenges from various quarters based on several policy issues.
Interior and Local Government
Secretary Angelo Reyes proposed the establishment of a national ID system
in the wake of the so-called Valentine’s Day bombings in three major
cities: Makati in Metro Manila and
Davao, and General Santos in southern Philippines.
The bombings took place at the height
of the renewed conflict between government troops and the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) in Sulu, the Philippines’ southernmost province.
Though MNLF leader Ustadz Habier Malik
has issued statements attributing the outbreak of the present fighting to
the Feb. 1 massacre of a family in Maimbong, Sulu, the government projects
the conflict as a fight against the Abu Sayyaf which it alleges as having
tied up with the MNLF.
Relatedly, Dr. Abdulrakman Amin, MNLF
liaison to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), has recently
issued a statement categorically denying any alleged MNLF links with the
Abu Sayyaf, and condemning to group for what he described as its
“criminal” activities.
According to Reyes, the national ID
system would help in fighting terrorism.
“These terrorists, they thrive on
anonymity,” Reyes told a news conference Feb. 18 in Camp Crame, the
Philippine National Police (PNP) general headquarters. “With a national ID
system, you cannot claim to be somebody else because there will be one
number for each person.”
Not new
The idea of a national ID system is
not new. It was first proposed in 1996, when then President Fidel V. Ramos
issued Administrative Order No. 308 providing for the adoption of a
National Computerized Identification Reference System. The system was
proposed supposedly to facilitate government transactions.
In 1997, then Sen. Blas Ople contested
A0 308 before the Supreme Court (SC), saying it was unconstitutional.
A year later, the SC upheld Ople’s
contention. “Given the record-keeping power of the computer, only the
indifferent will fail to perceive the danger that A.O. No. 308 gives the
government the power to compile a devastating dossier against unsuspecting
citizens,” read the SC decision.
Presently pending in Congress is
Senate Bill No. 833, filed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, which
provides for the establishment
of a national reference card system that will supposedly facilitate
government transactions. Lacson is a former national police chief.
Under the
Lacson bill, all citizens are assigned a reference number upon birth and
issued a National Reference Card free of charge at age 18.
Lacson is
much detested by human rights groups for his record as a police officer
under the martial-law regime. The book Closer Than Brothers, by
military historian Alfred McCoy, lists Lacson as one of the leading
torturers of activists ands suspected rebels during the martial-law
period.
The other
proponents of a national ID system are Sens. Edgardo Angara, Alfredo Lim,
and Juan Ponce Enrile.
Opponents
Meanwhile,
among the most vocal opponents of a national ID system is Joel Maglunsod,
secretary-general of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement).
“This
measure will be used to monitor citizens and groups opposing the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration’s anti-people policies,” Maglunsod said of the proposed
measure during a Feb. 21 protest action in front of the DILG office.
“Wanton violation of civil, political and human rights will take place if
the ID system will be approved.”
The
Macapagal-Arroyo administration has been criticized for red-baiting
against groups critical of its policies and practices. Malacañang has, at
various instances, tagged legal cause-oriented groups – including the
election watchdog Patriots – as “communist fronts.”
The
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), together with its armed
component the New People’s Army (NPA) and its founding chairman Jose Maria
Sison, are included in the U.S. Department of State’s list of “terrorist”
organizations.
The
national ID system has its opponents even among Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies.
Among the
more notable ones are Sens. Francis Pangilinan and Joker Arroyo.
Pangilinan
said that the government could use the national ID system to harass
civilians. He also said that the 1998 SC decision on the 1997 petition
filed by Ople had rendered a national ID system unconstitutional.
Arroyo, for
his part, fears that a national ID system would lead to a violation of
civil liberties. “Today more taxes, tomorrow less liberties, what next?
That is what happens when the president has an unthinking, unfeeling
support staff,” Arroyo was quoted Feb. 19 as saying by ABS-CBNNews.com.
Timing
The
proposal to establish a national ID system comes at a time when the
Macapagal-Arroyo administration is facing a confluence of opposition based
on various issues.
The results
of a recent survey by the socio-economic think tank IBON Foundation showed
74.11 of the respondents opposed to an increase in the value-added tax
(VAT) rate from 10 to 12 percent. Even such groups as the American Chamber
of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham Philippines) have calculated that a
VAT rate hike would adversely affect the low-income sectors of the
Philippine population.
The broad
opposition to a VAT rate increase showed its face during a protest action
near the Senate Feb. 16, in which Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New
Patriotic Alliance), bangon Pilipinas (Philippines Arise) National Renewal
Movement, Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM or Worker’s Party), People’s
Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), People’s Congress for Authentic Democracy
(PCAD), and mainstream opposition politicians took part.
Malacañang
is also facing snowballing broad protests against the reversal of the SC
decision declaring the Mining Act of the Philippines as unconstitutional,
as well as mounting calls for a peaceful resolution of the present Sulu
conflict. Bulatlat
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