DAVAOEÑOS will have a unified identification system midyear, following the approval of the Unified Davao City ID Ordinance of 2025 in Tuesday’s regular session.
The 20th City Council has approved the ordinance establishing the Davao City Citizen ID (DCitizen ID) for all Davaoeños.
Councilor Bonz Militar, chairperson of the committee on information technology, told reporters that the implementation will be in phases.
The first phase will prioritize about 160,000 senior citizens and around 20,000 persons with disabilities (PWDs) as early as April.
“Once our equipment arrives, by next month, we will start providing them with the cards, before we proceed with the residents and non-residents,’’ Militar said.
The IDs will be free of charge as mandated by the Ordinance to give free access to Dabawenyos and avoid causing a delay in registration.
Militar said the ID can be used as a primary ID within Davao City, as all establishments in the city will be informed to acknowledge it.
For senior citizens and PWDs, it can be acknowledged in the national offices as the DCitizen ID will replace their existing IDs.
“Upon registration, they will be required to fill out information which will not only be used for the DCitizen ID but also for government agencies that they will no longer need to provide information since it is already in the DCitizen ID,” he stressed.
Registration for the DCitizen ID will only need an existing valid ID or barangay clearance or through applying online.
There will be a transition period of two years, but if the full distribution is completed, Davaoeños will no longer need to present multiple documents when accessing social services.
“We will conduct a series of caravans in the barangay level for orientation and ID registration,” the councilor added.
The ID comes with a microchip that can be used for the future High Priority Bus System, working as a swipe card for easier use.
It will also use a color-coded classification for easier identification, such that blue is for permanent residents, green for transient residents, orange for PWDs, and red for senior citizens.
In terms of security features, the Ordinance allocated funds to purchase firewalls, cybersecurity protection to prevent breaches of data privacy. The data privacy protection officer of the city will oversee the system.
Fraudulent use, falsification of identity, and unauthorized printing of the ID will be charged with one year of imprisonment and a P5,000 penalty.
The DCitizen ID will have a validity of five years for adults 18 and above, the same validity for PWDs, while senior citizens will get a lifetime validity. Transient residents, however, will have a one-year validity.
Those who have a DCitizen ID may enjoy priority/ fast lanes to be prioritized in the services of the city.
