No authenticity checks for RP passport at airports

MANILA, Philippines – The lack of computer database interconnectivity between the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Bureau of Immigration at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BI-NAIA) prevents the verification of the new “machine readable” passports (MRPs).

Sources in the high-technology printing industry said this deficiency was a major weakness in the government’s effort to issue the new passport.

The same sources said that interconnectivity between the computer database of a country’s passport-issuing body and its airport immigration office was also a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

In the DFA’s present setup, the machine readers allow the BI-NAIA to scan the new passports, but it only reads the biological information in the main page of a passenger’s passport that carries the photograph and all personal details and records these in the BI-NAIA database.

After reading the information, the machine then records the data in the BI-NAIA database.

The system, however, fails to conduct a “real-time” verification if the passport has indeed been issued by the DFA.

The absence of this “real-time” verification, sources said, was a serious concern, especially since the MRPs being issued could allegedly be easily reproduced by unscrupulous groups that have access to sophisticated printing equipment and the imported laminates being used by the DFA’s passport printing contractor, Hologram Industries.

Hologram Industries is a French entity and not a local firm as previously reported.

Ferdinand Sampol, BI-NAIA head immigration supervisor, admitted that there was no interface between the DFA and BI’s passport database.

“The (readers) only read the personal (details), the bio-data. In the event that there is doubt (of the passport’s authenticity), we’ll verify it with the DFA,” Sampol told The STAR.

He said the verification, if it has to be done, would have to be made through telephone. He also admitted that the interconnectivity was a requirement of the ICAO.

“That’s the ideal setup,” Sampol said. “If there is a databank, ideally, there should be interconnectivity with each other.”

Sources earlier said that the new MRPs, which the DFA started issuing in June last year, carried poor quality security features, making them prone to falsification by unscrupulous groups especially those engaging in human trafficking of illegal workers, or worse, terrorists.

The sources added that the paper laminates and the bar-coded paper being used by Hologram Industries are easily available in the market.

The DFA’s move to contract Hologram Industries to produce the MRPs had caused its two top officials, DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo and Assistant Secretary Domingo Lucenario, to be slapped with graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP).

CEGP represents some 700 student publications from 500 colleges and universities all over the country.

In filing the graft cases, the CEGP questioned why the DFA cancelled a previous build-operate-transfer contract forged with a private firm to lay out an ICAO-compliant MRP issuance system at no cost to government, in favor of the expensive deal with Hologram Industries.

Aside from filing the graft case, CEGP also started a blogspot, www.dfapassportdeal.blogspot.com, in an attempt to expose the apparently illegal and improper termination of the MRP/V BOT contract by the DFA, in order to substitute a taxpayer funded, government procurement project.

DFA defends system

The DFA has assured the public that the new MRPs are tamper-resistant and fully compliant with the standards and requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Allegations on the system’s deficiencies have prompted the DFA to come out with a statement saying that the MRP’s security features were specifically designed to discourage tampering and improve the integrity of the passport system.

“Otherwise, tampered or forged passports will be rejected at airports, ports of entries of foreign countries,” the statement said.

The DFA said the security features include, but are not limited to, the following: watermarked paper and colored fibers; ultraviolet (UV)-reactive inks; a combination of security prints, such as fine lines with modulation, guilloche design, art screen and dash effects and microtext; laser-perforated alpha-numeric serial numbers; security laminates that are ultra thin with strong adhesion to prevent chemical, thermal or mechanical forgery; high-level origination and high image definition; high security animated and color switch optical imaging, and nano imaging.

The DFA noted that all relevant Philippine government agencies, particularly the BI, as well as all governments of the world, have been fully apprised of the features of the new Philippine passport and are thus able to detect forgeries and discrepancies in passports.

Immigration officers are equipped with special tools for ascertaining the genuineness of passports.

According to the DFA, the new MRP system includes the development and maintenance of a secure passport database to aid in rooting out identity theft and keep the integrity of the country’s passport system.

“Since the launch of the new machine-readable passports in June last year, the department has not had any verified case of fraud successfully foisted against the Philippine MRP,” the DFA added. “The department is constantly evaluating and undertaking measures to improve the security of the passport system.” – with Pia Lee-Brago