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Senate committee promises funds for DFA to open six consular offices so it can close Temporary Off-Site Passport Services because of ‘national security’ concerns
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it was “seriously looking… to employing a cyber security system” for Philippine passport data, over a “litany of concerns” on the data security of APO Production Unit, Incorporated, a Philippine government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC).
Assistant Secretary Adelio Cruz of the DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) made the disclosure Thursday, September 19, towards the end of the department’s budget briefing before the Senate finance committee.
APO, a GOCC under the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), signed a deal with the DFA in 2015 to handle the printing of passports. According to the APO’s own website, it is “responsible for securing the applicant’s online appointment, printing, personalization, and delivery of the ePassport.”
“We’re not happy with one GOCC that’s in charge of printing… so we’re very, very concerned about the security of our data and we are looking into, seriously looking into possibility of employing a cyber security system for all our passport data,” said Cruz.
Cruz added: “There was one incident, actually several incidents where their data, systems were allegedly breached. Unfortunately, they would not admit to the gravity or to the degree of the breach, Madame Chair. We believe it’s being sugarcoated.”
Senator Loren Legarda, who headed the Thursday briefing, said the issue would be tackled in both a meeting with APO and the DFA-OCA, as well as the PCO’s upcoming budget briefing before the upper chamber of Congress. Legarda said she had also been “hearing about that actually for a long time,” referring to talk that APO’s systems had been compromised.
Rappler has reached out to newly-appointed PCO chief Secretary Cesar Chavez, but has yet to receive a response as of posting.
“We just want to have an independent, highly dependable, efficient cyber security system exclusively for the Office of Consular Affairs,” added Cruz.
Last year, the PCO said APO would be probing the alleged issuance of Philippine passports to foreign nationals.
Shut down TOPS?
The DFA official had earlier answered a slew of questions from Legarda and Senator Nancy Binay over concerns on lapses in the issuance of passports to individuals who turned out not to be Filipino nationals.
Both Legarda and Binay asked Cruz about Temporary Off-Site Passport Services (TOPS), an option that was introduced during the COVID-19 lockdown. Unlike consular offices, TOPS are not run by organic personnel of the DFA. Typically, only one senior staff of the department is assigned to a TOPS venue.
Cruz said his office has been able to stop the over 171 applications from people of “questionable nationalities.” These applications took place in consular offices, TOPS, and even the main OCA office in ASEANA. Since the DFA cannot hold people in custody, it resorts to capturing the biometrics of “questionable” applicants to avoid “forum shopping” by flagging other offices.
OCA has also cancelled 66 passports “that were found to have been fraudulently issued to Chinese… [to] foreign nationals.”
Asked by Legarda if a “mismanaged” TOPS location was a national security issue, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said: “Definitely.”
Legarda pledged to provide funding for six consular offices — that’ll cost around P16 million per site annually and need 15 DFA personnel to run — so that the TOPS would be shut down.
The DFA, as well as its attached agencies, are asking for P27.4 billion in the 2025 budget. – Rappler.com
