House to look into 'defective' e-passports

MANILA, Philippines - The chairman of the House committee on good government and public accountability expressed concern yesterday over reports that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is issuing defective and substandard e-passports.

Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas said his committee would conduct an inquiry to enable the DFA and its passport printer, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to clarify the issue. He said he would ask the two agencies to take remedial measures if the e-passports are indeed defective and substandard.

He said he has been receiving complaints and reports that the travel document is made of inferior paper, could easily be faked and could easily disintegrate. The passport is supposed to be printed by the BSP using security paper.

Treñas said initial information reaching his committee revealed that the BSP subcontracted the printing of e-passports to a company named Oberthur-Sinophil, which charges $5.75 (about P245) per passport. He said the contract was signed in 2008 and is expiring in September this year.

He said the BSP conducted a bidding in February and again, Oberthur-Sinophil won over three other bidders by reducing its price by half to $2.59.

“We should be happy that the contract became cheaper but now it seems that the contractor is recovering cost by printing passports that are also cheap in quality,” he said.

He pointed out that such defects could inconvenience Filipino travelers and overseas Filipino workers. “We should remember that a passport is what identifies a Filipino in the international community.  It should be tamper-proof.  It should be an instrument to protect a citizen,” he said.

The DFA charges an applicant P750 for an e-passport.