DND to coordinate with DFA on passport data mess

“If true, then it is a very grave security concern and quite alarming. These are personal information such as full name, date and place of birth and other information that could be used illegally,” DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a message to reporters Sunday. (File Photo: Department of National Defense – Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The Department of National Defense (DND) will coordinate with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to examine details on the alleged passport data mess involving a former contractor of the latter and how to mitigate its effects.

“If true, then it is a very grave security concern and quite alarming. These are personal information such as full name, date and place of birth and other information that could be used illegally,” DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a message to reporters Sunday.

“We will get in touch with the DFA to find out the details of this issue and how to mitigate its ill effect,” he added.

DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., in a Twitter exchange Wednesday, revealed that the previous contractor has made inaccessible the data it was entrusted to after its printing contract was terminated.

Before the contract for the production of Philippine electronic passports was awarded to the APO Production Unit Inc. (APUI), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through a French firm, had been printing passport booklets.