E-passport delay hampers anti-terror fight - US

Delays in the Philippines’ implementation of a computerized passport system impede the government’s fight against terrorism, according to a report from the US State Department. The absence of machine readable features in a passport makes it easy for suspected terrorists to use fraudulent travel documents in entering the country, the report released on Monday said. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) planned to launch the passport modernization project but this has been delayed due to budgetary constraints. The project will computerize the Philippine passport, equipped with biometric and security features in compliance with the standards set by the ICAO. This year, Congress provided funding for the undertaking but a court case further delayed it. The Supreme Court lifted in March an injunction by a lower court on the production of the new passports. The DFA is hoping to have the electronic passports out by July. The DFA’s stock of the old, handwritten passports was earlier projected to last only until June this year because this year’s budget no longer provide for its production. “Despite plans dating back to 2001, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs had yet to introduce a digitized, machine-readable passport. While the Philippines cooperated with U.S. requests for prosecutions for persons who had tampered or altered travel documents, the prosecutions carried low-level penalties for those convicted of such fraud," a report of the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism said. “In addition, there was a reluctance to investigate or charge vendors or users of false documents. Under current Philippine law, the suspect must present the fraudulent document to a Philippine government authority in order for a crime to have been committed," the report added. The country’s passport modernization is deemed “crucial" after the International Civil Aviations Organization has given countries until April 2010 to implement e-passports. In February 2007, a lower court stopped the DFA from implementing the e-passport project in partnership with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) based on a petition of BCA Corp., a firm that signed a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract in 2000 with the department. The DFA filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking the lifting of the order. The DFA terminated the contract with BCA on December 9, 2005, citing the investor’s inadequate capitalization. Prior to the court injunction, the DFA had ordered four million e-passport booklets to replace the old ones. Project proponent BCA Corp. wanted to re-negotiate the contract with the DFA, saying it has already infused more than P300 million in the project. The DFA refused. - GMANews.TV