MANILA – Perfecto Yasay – former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – said the agency’s current head Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. “might have been misinformed” regarding the data breach issue the state-run department faces.
Locsin’s predecessor said there was no data stolen by a previous contractor – Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciare of France or “Oberthur.”
Yasay said Oberthur was already out when the DFA awarded the production of a new electronic passport system to APO Production Unit Inc. (APUI) which subcontracted to a United Graphic Expression Corporation (UGEC).
“When APO and UGEC came in, Oberthur withdrew. After all it was just assisting the government in the management of the operating system for free, the Oberthur already completed its contract,” Yasay said in an interview at ABS CBN News Channel.
“To say now that Oberthur ran away with the data is completely false,” he added. “(Locsin) might have been misinformed by certain officials of the DFA about the issue to deflect the real issue of the passport mess.”
Yasay also said some DFA officials just wanted to cover up the real issue, which is awarding the production of the passport from an end-to-end basis to APUI without any bidding and APUI in turn subcontracted to a private firm UGEC in violation with the law.
He earlier explained that APO, which is a government printing facility, was awarded a contract without bidding on condition that no part of the contract can be subcontracted or assigned to a private printer.
“My only point here is that it is preposterous and malicious and completely false for the DFA or anyone else to say that Oberthur ran away with the data because they could not run away with it,” Yasay said.
Locsin on Saturday said those who will renew their passports were required to bring their birth certificates after DFA’s outsourced passport maker “took all” applicants’ data.
The submission of birth certificates is being required only for those renewing the older Machine Readable Ready Passports and Machine Readable Passports issued before e-passports were first rolled out in 2009.
Meanwhile, the Malacañang said they are not taking lightly the alleged stealing of information and have directed the National Privacy Commission to investigate the matter.
“We are one with the Filipino people in their quest for truth and so we will not treat this issue lightly,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Monday.
“The submission of the old or current passport which the applicant seeks to renew should suffice for the purpose,” he added. “The ongoing practice is not only cumbersome to everyone affected but is a form of red tape.”
The Palace official continued: “The investigation should not, however, end here since the current arrangement for the printing of passports should also be examined to determine if there are violations of pertinent laws which may be detrimental to the public.”/PN
