The Commission on Audit has asked the Bureau of Immigration to collect over P626.329 million in underpayments covering its alien identification card project from a private company.
The COA directed the BI to collect underpayments from the defunct J. Serrano Trading Corp., now known as Datatrail Corp., that bagged the government contract for the Alien Certificate of Registration Identity Card (ACR I-Card) project in 2003.
A 2013 COA report showed the national government was deprived of huge amounts in revenue because of the build-operate-transfer agreement that was later amended in favor of the firm.
The report also said the contract should be terminated since its 10-year life span had already lapsed. All the rights, title and interest in the facilities, fixtures and equipment must be transferred to the bureau.
On Dec. 18, 2003, BI entered into a build-operate-transfer agreement with Datatrail for the automation of the ACR I-Card project through the issuance of a micro-based ID card to replace the old paper-based ACR.
The objective was to provide accurate, fraud- and tamper-proof registration, identification and monitoring of registered aliens in the country.
The agreement was cleared by the National Economic Development Authority board on a “no-objection basis” along with financial terms and conditions, including a 50-percent revenue-sharing deal and an annual guaranteed payment of P30 million.
On March 29, 2007, the arrangement was amended modifying the revenue-sharing from 50-50 to 67-33 percent sharing in favor of Datarail.
According to the Commission’s report, such amendment was null and void, inoperative and without legal effect due to violation of the law and the terms of the build-operate-transfer rules that do not allow modifications.