(Eagle News)–The Palace on Monday, Jan. 14, said it backed a probe into the passport data mess at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the incident was, after all, a “grave and serious matter.”
Panelo said the National Privacy Commission “has been directed” to look into the incident and determine whether certain provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012 have been violated, “particularly with respect to the personal information of the data subjects.”
Panelo saod, however, that the probe should “not end here since the current arrangement for the printing of passports should also be examined to determine if there are violations of pertinent laws which may be detrimental to the public.”
“We are one with the Filipino people in their quest for truth and so we will not treat this issue lightly,” he said.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the DFA’s former printing firm made off with the passport applicants’ data after its contract with the agency was terminated.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Elmer Cato said those who wish to renew their passports should bring a birth certificate for the same, but Panelo said this was “cumbersome to everyone affected” and was a “form of red tape which this administration frowns upon and will not tolerate.”
“Applicants should not be burdened by submitting original copies of their certificates of live birth, obtaining which requires another application process before the Philippine Statistics Authority, to renew their passports just because the producer lost their relevant data,” Panelo said, noting that the submission of the old or current passport “should suffice for the purpose.”
