Malacañang Palace Denounces The Need Of Birth Certificates For Passport Renewal Due To Data Loss
PASSPORT- The Malacañang Palace said that there is no need to bring live birth certificates for passport renewal just because someone took the data.
Recently, a former passport maker has his/her contract terminated by the government. Upon learning of the termination, the maker got pissed and ran off with the data.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that they did nothing about it since they were in the wrong.
FA Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato said that applicants renewing green, brown, and maroon machine-readable passports are obliged to submit their birth certificates as DFA rebuilds files.
However, according to the Palace via a statement by Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, applicants should not be weighted with carrying their live birth certificate when renewing their passports just because the data was lost.
According to Manila bulletin, Panelo further added that “the submission of the old or current passport which the applicant seeks to renew should suffice for the purpose. He described the practice not only “cumbersome” to everyone affected but also a form of red tape, in which this administration frowns upon and will not tolerate.
The situation made the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) rebuild their database for passports issued before 2010 due to that incident. Locsin said that passports issued after 2009 do not need to bring their certificates.
Panelo said that despite all this, the incident is a serious matter. He further added that the National Privacy Commission (NPC) has been ordered to investigate the incident and ascertain whether certain provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012, have been violated, particularly with respect to the personal information of the data subjects.
As per the report, Locsin said in a Tweet that he was wondered why the previous maker was terminated in the first place.
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