Manila: Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said there is no more need for Filipinos to present their old birth certificates when securing the new machine-readable electronic passports after the contractor ostensibly “lost all data.

“Old passport is more than sufficient,” Locsin said in a tweet on Tuesday, three days after he said that the passport data from Filipinos were taken away by one of the contractors for the machine-readable passport.

In a tweet on January 15, 2019, Locsin said he is already “signing an order removing the birth certificate as requirement for passport renewals.”

Earlier, Locsin blamed past administrations under presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III for complicating the contract with a local firm, UGEC (United Graphic Expression Corporation), who allegedly ran away with the data of passport applicants.

The supposed loss of the passport data, would compel the DFA to ask Filipino passport-holders to present their birth documents, a task that is not easy given a large number of them are working abroad and had to secure the necessary papers.

“Upon information and belief, it appears UGEC which continues the illegal production of the E-passports has not complied,” Locsin had said on January 11.

But apparently, Locsin did not have enough information when he uttered those statements.

In a tweet on Tuesday, a calmer Locsin said there is no need for Filipinos having to go through the tedious and time-consuming process of securing a new passport.

The new travel documents are embedded with an electronic chip that is supposed to make it foolproof and resistant to tampering.

“Data is not runaway-able but made inaccessible. Access denied. But APO (the government entity assigned with producing the passports with UGEC as subcontractor) assured me they were able to access but not much use and parts corrupted. APO agrees with me that old passports are best evidence of identity,” Locsin said.

On Monday the palace rejected plans by Locsin to make Filipinos go through the process of submitting birth documents for passport renewals.

“Applicants (for electronic passports) should not be burdened by submitting original copies of their certificates of live birth, obtaining which requires another application process before the Philippine Statistics Authority, to renew their passports just because the producer lost their relevant data,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Reissuing new passports to Filipinos who had earlier complied with requirements could pose a big headache, not just for Filipinos but for the foreign affairs department as there are thousands of Philippines nationals who have to every day queue up for passport appointments that sometimes take weeks to process.