Todays News...High-tech IDs eyed for rice beneficiaries to prevent fraud

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is thinking of adding high-tech features to cards which verify identities of subsidized rice beneficiaries. In a radio report, DSWD secretary Esperanza Cabral said that the cards will soon contain bar codes which will trigger an alarm when scanned.
Besides discouraging the use of fake cards, it will also prevent individuals from buying government-subsidized rice and then selling them at higher rates. “We will place bar code systems so that the cards whose bar codes do not match will trigger an alarm when scanned.
That way, unscrupulous individuals will not get cheap rice," Cabral said on government-run dzRB radio.
Cabral said that this initiative is separate and independent from another program, called the “Beneficiary Identified for Government Assistance (BIGAS) numbers," which will be issued to local government units to prevent the proliferation of fake cards.
“We are taking all measures to make sure the cards will not be easily faked," she said.


source: GMANews.TV