BSP not behind passport backlog–DFA

Department of Foreign Affairs building. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified on Friday that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) was not responsible for the backlog in the passport issuance.

“On the matter of the current passport backlog, the Department of Foreign Affairs wishes to clarify that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is not responsible for the unfortunate delays,” the DFA said in an e-mailed statement.

The DFA said the unexpected delays are attributed to technical difficulties in view of the preparations for the transfer of the facilities from the current BSP site to its new location in Batangas.

“These delays should be corrected within one month,” the DFA said.

It said the recent statement issued to the media which may have been interpreted to have attributed the delays to the BSP was inaccurate.

“The BSP has been a valued partner of the DFA and its delivery of service has been more than acceptable and in accordance with expectations,” the DFA said.

Assistant Secretary Frank Cimafranca of the DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs said in a news briefing on Thursday that the backlog had reached to 42, 230 passports as the 6-year-old passport system faces obsolescence.

The entire passport printing will be transferred between Aug. 21 and 24, to the Lima Technology Center which houses the high security printing plant of printer APO Production Unit Inc., a government-controlled corporation under the Presidential Communications Operations Office. Niña P. Calleja