The alleged illegal contract of APO Production Unit with the Department of Foreign Affairs over the manufacture of the country’s electronic passports has yet to undergo a thorough review, DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said recently.
In an interview, Cayetano said that even as the department moves to facilitate faster processing of passports by adding more machines, APO-PU and Ugec’s future with the DFA is still uncertain.
“I have not stopped the review and I have not recommended anything yet,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano also said that he has decided, for now, to separate the legal issue from the administrative.
“First, I will take care the administrative side on how to speed up the processing and to upgrade the services for the Filipinos regardless of the findings of the legal department pertaining to the contact,” Cayetano said.
He also said that while he is focusing on the administrative side, he is also coordinating with the Office of the President and the Office of the Executive Secretary regarding the matter.
“Right now we are focused on the administrative but I’m coordinating with the Office of the President and the Office of the Executive Secretary because they already started in the legal aspect there,” he said.
Earlier this week, Cayetano disclosed that he has met with the DFA’s legal department to discuss the fate of APO, a state-owned printing press company and its joint venture United Graphic Expression Corp., that bagged the 10-year contract to print the e-passport.
“They’re going to compare notes and start looking at the aspect of the contract, including whether it is beneficial to the government or kung hindi siya beneficial to APO,” he said.
Cayetano also vowed to review the contract to determine its legality.
Criticisms that the agreement between the DFA and APO is dubious surfaced recently especially after the latter entered into a joint venture with a private entity to undertake the printing of passports.
According to Cayetano, to speed up the passport processing, they have added 15 machines used for data capture. This will result to the additional processing of 1,000 passports a day or 30 percent addition to the current capacity of 2,300 a day to 3,300.
He added that they have added two shifts for their personnel, the first at 7:30 a.m and the second shift in the afternoon.
Cayetano said they will be trying this approach for a week to see if it will substantially affect the processing of passports.
He added that by the end of June, the DFA will start the ePayment system wherein passports applicants can pay the passport fees online.
Earlier, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, in a legal opinion issued on the behest of former Foreign Affairs secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., said APO-PU committed administrative and criminal offense in engaging the services of UGEC relative to the printing of the so-called e-passports.
Panelo said even a supplemental agreement would not legitimize the illegal subcontract between APO-PU and UGEC because the transaction was consummated in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Administrative Code, and pertinent rules and regulations on government procurement.
Yasay disclosed that the move to take the BSP out of the passport equation was undertaken in October 2015 through the initiative of Coloma and Maria Montelibano, a close adviser of former President Benigno Aquino III.
APO, which is operating under the PCOO, is described in the said agreement as the only Recognized Government Printers that expressed willingness to print the e-passport.
The other two RGPs are the National Printing Office and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The agreement was made possible after the Department of Budget and Management issued a Multi-Year Obligational Authority to the DFA for the printing of e-passports for 10 years, covering the period of 2016-2026.
A check at its website showed that UGEC is a private printing company that specializes in packaging materials, ads and promos and collaterals. It has a huge printing facility in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
In 2016, the DFA has issued a total of 3,102,278 passports to Filipinos.