PACC wants APO exec dismissed

MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has filed a complaint for grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty against Michael Dalumpines, president and chair of Asian Productivity Organization (APO), in connection with alleged irregularities in its printing of electronic passports.

The PACC has also recommended to the Ombudsman and the Office of the President the removal of Dalumpines from government service, according to PACC chair Greco Belgica.

Belgica said the complaint against Dalumpines stemmed from APO’s subcontracting of other companies for the printing of machine-readable passports.

He said APO was supposed to be the sole printer of the e-passports under its P38- billion contract with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

But APO entered into a joint venture agreement with United Graphic Expression Corp. (Ugec), which the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged in a 2017 report for being disadvantageous to the government.

The COA had found that Ugec had a bigger profit share compared to APO, the rental of printing machines from Ugec was not in accordance with the Joint Venture Security Printing Agreement, and the machines were already old.