DFA: No corruption in ePassport, MRP projects

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday defended itself against accusations of corruption, particularly involving its machine-readable passport (MRP) and the electronic passport (ePassport) projects. DFA spokesperson Eduardo Malaya said all transactions connected to the two projects are transparent and legal. Malaya issued the clarification following a paid advertisement in a major publication alleging that the said projects were tainted with corruption. The ad, which appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last week, described the ePassport project as “a graft-ridden project that was implemented by Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo involving the precipitate and totally baseless termination by the DFA of an ongoing build-operate-transfer contract" with BCA International Corp. for machine readable passports. The ad urged President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III to terminate the “anomalous" passport project. Malaya, however, said the DFA terminated its contract with BCA, the original proponent of the MRP project, in 2005 for its inability to implement the project due primarily to financial incapacity. He said a Supreme Court resolution issued on June 2008 denied for lack of merit BCA’s second motion to restrain the DFA on the MRP project. "There is thus an apparent attempt by the proponents of the advertisement to mislead the public. In fact, all transactions pertaining to the MRP and ePassport projects were legal and transparent," Malaya said. The Department of Justice also declared that the cancellation of the contract originally awarded to BCA as having “basis in law and in fact," he added. “[T]he cancelled BCA project proposes a now outmoded passport technology, and for the Philippines to go back to the BCA's proposal would be a retrogressive move, to the prejudice of overseas Filipino workers and travelling Filipinos, instead of a positive one towards a world-class passport," he added. The DFA entered into an agreement with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the department’s original supplier for passports, for the conduct of a competitive and public bidding on the ePassport requirements. Launched in August 2009, the ePassport is in full compliance with international requirements as it is more secure, tamper-proof and highly credible, the release noted. - Jerrie Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV