Tulfo asks why BSP instead of PSA in charge of printing National IDs

Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo criticized move by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to take from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) the task of printing the national ID cards.

During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance last Aug. 16, Tulfo asked why the BSP, which is tasked to print money, interfered with the printing of said IDs with a contract amounting to a whopping P28 billion.

Worse, Tulfo said, after the PSA has gotten the project from BSP, the contract was passed on to AllCard, Inc. despite knowing that this company had previous problems with various government agencies, including delays in the implementation of the contract.

Since the National ID law was passed in 2018, only 36 million physical national ID cards have been printed, which is roughly a third of government target of 92 million.

"Ngayon, sa muli, delayed ulit ang All Card sa pagpapatupad sa kontrata naman nito sa BSP. Pero hindi lang delayed ang problema ng All Card kundi nakagawa pa ito ng malaking bulilyaso," Tulfo shared.

According to Tulfo, BSP failed to correctly design the QR code for national ID cards since the design was too small and not enough to store important information. As a result of this, BSP may need to destroy millions of cards that have been initially printed to be replaced by new design.

Tulfo also questioned why BSP tapped an Australian company to print our 1,000-peso note. He said this only means that Philippine money is imported and made in Australia.

Sen. Idol will file a resolution in aid of legislation to investigate these issues against BSP and AllCard.

Tulfo: Bakit BSP imbes PSA in charge sa printing ng national IDs?

Kinuwestyon ni Sen. Idol Raffy Tulfo ang "pang-aarbor" ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) sa Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) sa task na pag-imprenta ng ating national ID.

Sa Senate hearing ng Committee on Finance noong Aug. 16, sinabi ni Tulfo na nagtataka siya bakit ang BSP, na ang trabaho ay mag-imprenta ng pera, ay nakialam sa pagpapa-imprenta ng mga ID na nagkakahalaga ng tumataginting na P28 billion.

"Ang masaklap, matapos maipa-arbor ng PSA sa BSP ang proyekto, ang kontrata ay naipasa naman sa AllCard, Inc. kahit pa ang kompanyang ito ay dati nang may problema sa iba't-ibang ahensya ng gobyerno, tula ng delay sa pagpapatupad sa kontrata," saad niya.

"Ngayon, sa muli, delayed ulit ang AllCard sa pagpapatupad sa kontrata naman nito sa BSP. Pero hindi lang delayed ang problema ng AllCard kundi nakagawa pa ito ng malaking bulilyaso," dagdag niya.

Aniya, pumalpak sila sa disenyo ng QR code dahil napakaliit nito at hindi sapat para makapag-store ng mga mahahalagang impormasyon. Dahil dito, may posibilidad na sirain nila ang milyon-milyon nang naimprentang mga card para sa bagong disenyo.

Kinuwestyon din ni Sen. Tulfo ang BSP kung bakit ang pagpapagawa ng bagong 1,000-peso note natin ay ikinontrata nito sa Australia. "Ibig sabihin, ang sarili nating pera ay imported at made in Australia," ani Tulfo.

Magpapasa ng resolution in aid of legislation si Tulfo para mapa-imbestigahan ang mga isyung ito laban sa BSP at AllCard.