The city of Makati, in the Philippines, has started using biometrics to authenticate the identities of city staff. The system was spearheaded by Mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña as a means of reducing fraud.
The fraud in question is the issue of “ghost employees” – fictitious individuals drawing salaries on behalf of other city staff. In order to ensure that all city staff on the payroll are indeed real people, Mayor Peña implemented a biometric registration system in which employees had to scan their fingerprints. Going forward, authenticated staff will be moved onto an automated pay system using Land Bank of the Philippines ATMs. The overall aim of the program is both to reduce “ghost employee” fraud and to make it more convenient for legitimate staff to collect their salaries.
It could be seen as part of a widening embrace of biometric technology in the country, with its Commission on Elections (“Comelec”) currently doing one final push to register the biometric data of eligible voters in anticipation of next year’s national election, which will rely on biometric voter authentication. The country’s Department of Justice is also planning to implement biometric administration systems for its prisons as part of an effort to ensure prisoner records are accurately maintained.
Source: The Philippines Star
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September 17, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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