EDITORIAL - Canceled contract

As raids on Philippine offshore gaming operators have shown, subscriber identity modules with fraudulent registration continue to be used for a wide range of cyber scams, despite the passage of Republic Act 11934, the SIM Registration Act.

One of the major hindrances to the effective enforcement of RA 11934 is the slow rollout of the national identification system. The national ID is supposed to provide a quick way of verifying the authenticity of personal information provided in registering a SIM card. Telecommunications companies had proposed the full implementation of the national ID system first before making SIM registration mandatory. But the government ignored the telcos’ concern, even when the National Bureau of Investigation showed that the SIM registration system accepted even the images of monkeys.

The wait for the full rollout of the national ID system has just become longer following the cancellation by the government of the contract with the supplier of the ID cards. The Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas terminated the contract with All Card Inc. because of delays in the delivery of raw materials and failure to maintain the production machinery. The BSP prints the national ID using data gathered by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The MB said ACI failed to provide a “comprehensive and realistic” catch-up plan amid the delays, refused to comply with valid instructions, incurred seven percent wastage, which exceeded the one percent allowed, and “effectively abandoned the contract.”

As of June 30, “cumulative liquidated damages from ACI” have reached more than 10 percent of the contract price,” the MB said. About 88.98 million Filipinos have registered so far for the national ID, with almost 53 million ID cards delivered. That’s still a shortfall of nearly 36 million.

ACI was also involved in the controversy over the delayed delivery of plastic driver’s license cards. And it’s not the first time that the delivery of government-issued ID cards has been much delayed. Several years ago, people trooped to offices of the Commission on Elections to have their biometric data taken, but ended up waiting for ages to get their plastic voter’s ID cards.

It’s not enough to cancel such contracts and demand payment of damages. Charges must be filed in court and appropriate penalties imposed for the inconvenience caused to the public.