The Philippines is warning citizens that printing digital national IDs on physical cards is illegal and punishable by prison time—while Vietnam is proposing one of the region’s most expansive digital identity frameworks, one that would assign state-managed electronic identities to physical objects, digital assets, and transactions, not just people.
The Philippines’ PSA warns against unauthorized national IDs
Digital national IDs printed on PVC cards are not valid in the Philippines, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)—the country’s primary statistical arm—said in an advisory, as reported by the local news outlet Cebu Daily News.
The PSA said that such copies have no legal validity and warned that individuals who print, manufacture, or issue unauthorized national IDs will violate Republic Act No. 11055, or the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Act. Violators may face three to six years in prison and fines from PHP 1 million ($16,272) to PHP 3 million ($48,816).
The advisory comes as many Filipinos continue to wait for their official physical national ID cards and rely on the digital national ID and paper-based ePhilID for public and private transactions.
Several factors contributed to the delayed distribution of the national ID, according to Johndel Christofer Dunting, Registration Officer II and National ID regional focal person for PSA Central Visayas. These include manual identity verification, failed quality inspections, and the expiration of the government’s printing contract with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s central bank, which previously produced the physical cards.
The PSA has reportedly begun looking for a new service provider to resume large-scale printing of national IDs.
The agency reminded businesses and government agencies not to honor unauthorized printed PVC versions of the national ID and to verify their authenticity via the National ID Check platform.
In addition, they encouraged the public to use the digital version of the national ID via the eGov PH app. They clarified that the digital national ID carries the same legal validity as the physical version, and likewise, the paper-based ePhilID remains a legitimate government-issued identification document.
As of October 2025, the PSA claimed that 90,290,024 Filipinos have been registered and verified for the PhilSys. That is 80% of the Philippines’ population.
“Over 90 million Filipinos can fully enjoy the benefits of being part of the National ID system, which includes improved access to services through any of the formats of the National ID and more secure transactions through the authentication services,” said PSA Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa, PhD, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General.
“While we have successfully registered and verified the majority of Filipinos, we continue to encourage others to register to the National ID—a process that remains easy, convenient, and free of any charge for all.”
Vietnam weighs expansion of state-managed digital identity
In other news, Vietnam has proposed assigning a state-managed digital identity to physical assets, digital property, and transactions in the country.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is looking to expand digital tracking through the draft Law on Electronic Identification and Authentication, which is open for public consultation from July 13 to August 2.
The MPS wants a system that moves beyond identifying agencies, organizations, and individuals by developing “electronic identities.” These identities will gather, identify, and link data on assets, locations, spaces, transactions, and behaviors related to each person or organization online.
The proposed bill establishes five groups subject to the electronic identification, these are:
- Individuals, organizations, and agencies
- Physical objects such as goods, equipment, assets, and other material items
- Non‑physical items like data, applications, property rights, intangible cultural heritage, and digital assets
- Events and transactions
- Locations and spaces
Following Clause 1, Article 3 of the draft law, once identified, the information will be linked to create an “electronic identity” within the national identification system. This will allow authorities to “uniquely identify that entity in the electronic environment.”
Further conditions were outlined in Clause 3, Article 9, which mandates that for entities in groups one, two, and five, identifying information must be “linked to the electronic identity of the entity’s owner or lawful manager.” In addition, under Clause 4, Article 9, for “events, conduct and transactions,” the identifying information must be “linked to the electronic identities of all participating parties.”
The regulation was not part of the initial agenda of the National Assembly. It was introduced after the government passed Resolution No. 125 on May 11, in response to an MPS request. The ministry argues that Decree No. 69 lacks sufficient legal authority to expand electronic identification to new categories, which is the rationale behind the new proposal.
Once passed, the law would bind physical items, digital assets, and human activities to state-administered digital identities. The MPS said the objective is to create a unified identification framework that spans both physical and electronic spaces.
Watch: Why using transparent ledger for digital identity ensures trust
Be the first to comment