The national ID system will undergo a six-month testing period on January, the head of the Philippine Statistics Authority ( PSA) said in a government radio program on Saturday.

Undersecretary Lisa Grace Bersales, also national statistician and civil registrar general of PSA said the testing period will cover "at most [around] one million."

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the National ID System for Filipinos and resident aliens into law in August 6.

Initial participants are beneficiaries of the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the National Capital Region, Cordillera Autonomous Region and Calabarzon.

Indigenous people and residents of secluded areas can participate through mobile registrations or by visiting the nearest PhilPost facilities.

"[T]he national ID can be used as an identification card when we participate in election," Bersales said. Another benefit of having a national ID system is that it can be used as an official document to open a bank account.

The national ID, Bersales explained, can also be used in transactions involving PhilHeath services, other hospital services, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Most importantly, it will also be useful during disaster relief operations since it is easier to identify people that are hit by calamities.

The final procurement is worth "around 1.4 billion pesos and we have an indicative budget for the whole implementation of the Philippine Identification System of about 30 billion pesos," Bersales said.

"[I would like to] clarify [that it is still an] indicative budget, [it will] firm up after the proof of concept [that we will conduct] in the coming six months, Bersales added.

Bersales also explained that having a national ID will not cause any issue if ever the proposal to have a federalist government will push through.

The national ID will not include any information "whether [the person is a] resident [of a] federal government or whatever, [it will only provide the owner's] address," Bersales said. DMS