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By Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter
The Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) defended its deal with a French company for the production of
electronic passports, stating the finished products will be “more
secure, globally accepted and compliant with standards of the
International Civil Aviation Organization.”
The statement further said that
“all passports issued by the department are produced in full
accord with the Government Procurement Reform Act [R.A. 9184] and
other relevant statutes and regulations.”
The Foreign Affairs department
was reacting to a petition filed by party-list representative
Anakpawis before the Supreme Court compelling the department and the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to halt its deal with a French company,
which allegedly has been involved in “anomalous” transactions.
The group questioned why
Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciare was chosen to produce Machine
Readable Passports (MRP) and E-Passports over a local company named
BCA Corp.
The petitioners claimed that the
said French outfit was involved in the printing of P100 bills that
misspelled President Gloria Arroyo’s surname as “Arrovo,” and
that it also printed passports for Kenya, which were canceled
supposedly due to irregularities.
The Foreign Affairs department,
however, argued that the BCA Corp.’s contract with them was
terminated in 2005 because of the company’s financial incapacity
to implement the project. The department further said it is merely
following temporary restraining order issued by the High Court
against a regional trial court and the BCA Corp. over a similar
petition that sought to stop Filipinos from receiving newer and
better passports
“The BSP conducted an open,
competitive, and public bidding on the e-Passport project and on
that basis, a new contract was awarded to Francois Charles Oberthyur
Fiduciare in 2008,” it added. It said the transaction was
supported by and consistent with pertinent laws and official
Opinions of the Department of Justice, the Department of Finance and
the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Foreign Affairs department
began issuing MRPs in July 2007, and since then three million
Filipinos and Filipino migrant workers have received MRP passports.
The department said holders of
the electronic passports are no longer segregated at airports or
discriminated against because of inferior travel documents. It said
the price for MRPs is P500, same for the old green passport.
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