Albayalde: Passport mess a national security threat

MANILA, Philippines — The passport controversy at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is a national security threat, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday.

“Not only threat to national security but also a threat of our identities,” PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said at a press briefing.

Albayalde expressed concern that there are Filipinos possibly at risk of losing their privacy.

“There are many Filipinos whose passports contain a lot of personal information. That is one threat,” Albayalde said in Filipino.

But Albayalde said the PNP is ready to provide assistance if the DFA needs help in its investigation.

“We will be very much willing to help them,” he said.

Among the PNP units that can help the DFA are the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Anti-Cybercrime Group, Information Technology Management Service and Directorate for Information and Communications Technology Management.

However, the PNP is not yet involved in any probe.

“Perhaps the DFA is resolving it in their level. The PNP will wait for the DFA to ask for our assistance,” Albayalde said.

For its part, Malacañang said yesterday that applicants should not be slapped with stringent requirements because of the passport data mess, as it vowed to ferret out the truth about the controversy. 

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said requiring applicants to submit an original certificate of live birth is “cumbersome” and “a form of red tape” that the administration would not tolerate.

Panelo assured the public the issue would not delay the issuance of passports.

He also described the passport data controversy disclosed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro  Locsin Jr. as a “serious and grave matter.”  – With Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero, Edith Regalado, Rainier Allan Ronda, Evelyn Macairan