Roblox is preparing to open an office in the Philippines and integrate the Philippine national ID system into its platform, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda disclosed the plan during an interview on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s “Agenda” newscast on Thursday, saying the government has begun discussions with Roblox on using the national ID, or PhilSys, to verify the identities of users on the platform.
“Nagtayo na po sila ng opisina dito sa Singapore, isusunod na po nila ang Pilipinas,” Aguda said. (Roblox has already set up an office in Singapore, and the Philippines is next.)
For Filipino parents and young users, the move would mark one of the more concrete steps yet to link a global gaming platform directly to PhilSys, the national identification system administered by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Roblox is widely used among Filipino children and teenagers, both for gameplay and user-generated content, which has made it a recurring subject of online safety concerns among regulators.
Aguda said the ID integration is intended in part to address the presence of predators and adult groomers on the platform who target children.
“Ang isa sa mga problema ni Roblox, yung mga predators at saka mga adult groomers, pag ginamit na nila yung national ID nila para makapasok sa sistema, malalaman na namin kung sino yung mga tao na yun,” Aguda said. (One of the problems with Roblox is the predators and adult groomers. Once they use their national ID to access the system, we will know who these people are.)
Aside from the identity verification system, Aguda said Roblox plans to expand its educational offerings in the Philippines through a program covering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), to be coordinated with the Department of Education.
The discussions with Roblox followed meetings between Philippine government officials and technology companies in Singapore focused on online safety, including the use of digital platforms by adults to target minors and the spread of violent content online.
