Palace wants ‘facts’ on passport ‘data breach’

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Monday said he would be writing the government agencies concerned as well as the outsourced contractor in the alleged passport “data breach” to know the “status” of the issue.

“‘Di pa nga natin alam kung totoong nawala. I need to know exactly, nawala ba o hindi. I’m waiting for the DFA to tell us,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“We’re writing the DFA regarding that matter. We’re also writing PCOO relative to the same. We’re writing also UGEC (United Graphic Expression Corporation),” Panelo added.

Sought for further clarification after the briefing, Panelo said he would be writing the concerned agencies to “know the facts.”

“I will just ask for a status, ano ba talaga? What’s the score? Nawala ba o hindi? At sino? I need to know the facts,” he said.

The Palace official refused to give further comments on the issue, saying he needed documents to comment on the matter.

“Kulang ‘yung mga dokumento kaya hindi ako makagawa ng conclusive opinion on the matter. So, we’ve been asking them to give us all the documents relative to that matter pero kulang eh (but they’re lacking),” he said.

“I need the facts bago kami gumawa ng komentaryo. I want formal communication coming from them and giving me the facts,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has not made any comment on the issue yet but Panelo assured the public the Chief Executive does not want the public to be inconvenienced.

“The President of course doesn’t want these birth certificates being lost, even without him saying it, ‘di dapat mangyari ‘yun (it should not have happened),” he said.

On Saturday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin bared in a tweet that a previously outsourced passport maker “took off” with all passport applicants’ data after its contract was terminated. /kga