A PARTY-LIST lawmaker on Saturday raised doubt on the integrity of the private firm subcontracted by the government-run printing entity APO Production Unit Inc. in addressing the passport backlog.
In a privilege speech, Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said the United Graphic Expression Corp. guaranteed in its Nov. 27, 2014 joint venture agreement with APO that it could deliver 3.4 million passports within a year but only 1,946,703 were printed as of March 2017.
Assistant Secretary Frank Cimafranca of the DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs earlier said the backlog has reached 42,230 passports.
Zarate said based on DFA’s records, 11,852 of these come from foreign posts, 30,127 from regional offices and 251 from Manila.
“It is clear that UGEC cannot fulfill its contractual obligations and despite its backlog of more than one million passports it still handles the printing up to this day,” Zarate said.
Zarate’s House Resolution 1608 is asking the House committee on good government and public accountability look into the alleged questionable APO-UGEC contract. Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay earlier alleged the APO-UGEC deal had no expressed approval of DFA.
Zarate, a lawyer, said subcontracting is prohibited under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, and Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
APO, the National Printing Office and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, are the only three agencies considered as RGPs or Recognized Government Printers.
In the subject JVA, APO contracted UGEC to upgrade its Lima printing facility in Bataan, which was subsequently inaugurated by then President Benigno Aquino in July 2015 in line with the new e-passport program.
Three months after the inauguration, on Oct. 15, 2015, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed granting APO the authority to print the e-passports through the then new integrated electronic passport system. APO, however, allowed UGEC to handle the passport printing in violation of the MOA.
Zarate said the alleged irregularities hounding the passport contract could have been the root cause of the perennial shortage of slots in the online scheduling system of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Zarate said reports reaching his office showed that UGEC is still doing the passport printing despite the rescinding of the agreement and that BSP has agreed to resume printing under a new contract after a three to six months transition period.
Aside from the backlog, Zarate added there are still questions that need to be addressed in the APO-UGEC contract such as issues on passport booklet inventory, back up of printing personalization, disaster recovery system, and security issues, among others.
At a congressional hearing, it was revealed that UGEC had only P800 million in assets and P200 million in cash with liabilities that raise questions on its capability of carrying out the multi-billion-peso e-passport printing.