The Social Security System has just announced the news in their website that they would start on issuing the new Unified Multipurpose Identification System or "UMID" cards for free to members before the end of the month. Other government agencies like Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) have joined the UMID system, which means easy and convenient transactions for members. Other state agencies can also join the UMID, which uses biometric technology and fingerprint matching to determine a person's identity, so more people can reap its benefits.
For the last two years (or more!) they got a problem on card distribution. What used to be a two months waiting time for the release turned out to be almost two years for some. According to their website, they do have a backlog of about 600,000 IDs and hoping to eliminate in two months. Whew, that's a lot to expect from them but still hoping they could do it, since I'm one of those who would benefit.
I lost my SSS card more than a year ago and had a difficult time looking for an SSS branch that would cater ID capture. With this experience I have learned my lesson to really keep track (always!) of my all the valuable IDs, for renewals could be tedious & time-consuming. Well, maybe that explains why they made it hard, for us to be mindful on keeping important things in our life. Especially now, that we need to present the ID before we can avail any of their services offered.
