by Juan Claudio S. Castro, PTV New Media
A country’s passport system is a window to the many faces of that nation. It mirrors the country’s artistry and elaborateness. In most cases, the passport is a threshold to the nation’s rich culture, treasured heritage, sustained tradition, the saga of the first natives, even the breath-taking sceneries. Among others, the passport system informs about the country’s abilities and competence to cope with the ever-existing, mind-boggling threats brought about by the ever-changing world, particularly laid down by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. All of these things are considered in the present passport procedure in the Philippines. All of these things generated the Philippine ePassport.
The electronic passport (ePassport) system is an innovative passport production of the Philippines, authored by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Production Unit, Inc. (APO). It prides the seemless and secured movement of users among different countries across the globe. It puts in the premium the utmost, technologically-savvy security of the document, making it tamperproof. To the belief of APO General Manager Alvin Reyes, the ePassport “ . . . has never been hacked.” The ePassport is a compendium of various, sophisticated, technological advancements in data protection, without sacrificing the aesthetic quality of the product.
The ePassport is the Philippines’s response, through the APO, to the emerging sky-high developments in digital and information technology, where security has been one of the cardinal concerns of mankind. It is crafted and brought to light through the state-of-the-art, topnotch printers of the APO. It is in conformity with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an international association that supervises the world’s aviation standards and policies. The ePassport, specifically, adopts the ICAO 9303—the “Machine Readable Travel Document.” These are the general standards observed by all countries, where the design of the passport is set out. “There are certain placements of where certain data’s supposed to go, how you supposed to write on the chip, and how these documents should be presented,” elucidates Scott Price Atayde, Business and Research Development, APO on the ICAO 9303.
During the High Security Printing Asia event in Singapore in 2016, the Philippine ePassport was crowned as the Regional ID Document of the Year.
In the execution of the ePassport project, the ePayment was brought forth. It is a side program of the ePassport system for the benefit of the Filipino citizenry. The ePayment eases up the application process of passport resulting in convenience on the part of applicants, faster acquisition of the document in just a couple of weeks from the original one month, and decongested application sites.
As easily seen from the foregoing, the ePassport is a product of a tedious, intricate process. It is not a no-brainer undertaking; it requires an exceptional skill and ironclad commitment to give birth to such a complex document. That said, a question comes to mind: Who is behind the ePassport? Well, we shall now take a comprehensive overview on the APO, the arena where the rubber hits the road in the artful and scientific production of the ePassport. We shall get to know whom mans this office, what does it really do, its mandate, and other pertinent information about how it generated a knack in producing the world-class ePassport.
The APO is a self-sustaining government-owned or -controlled corporation (GOCC) that undertakes printing engagements where security is of the essence. “We are what you call a high-security printer. We do passports, BIR stamps, anything that requires a high-level of security, so that it’s tamperproof . . . There’s a defense against fraud. In the digital age, there’s always a threat of cyber-hacking and everything, and APO is at the forefront in securing government documents against this ever-present threat,” informs Reyes. The security printing arm undertakes document production along the other two government printing offices—the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas which takes over the production of Philippine currency, and National Printing Office which handles the production of election ballots belonging to the Commission on Elections. The APO, being a GOCC without an original charter, finds its basis in Batas Pambansa Bilang 68, the Corporation Code of the Philippines. Half of the APO’s income goes to the national government.
The APO started as a simple printing office in the Philippines of Japan’s Asian Productivity Organization in 1967. It was established in the Philippines by virtue of the Philippine state’s membership in said organization and was funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the Philippine government. Through a letter of instruction by then president Ferdinand Marcos in 1974, the APO became a self-sustaining printing office under the supervision of the National Economic and Development Authority. In 2011, the APO reached a remarkable income in the amount of PHP20.7 million, its first earning in 11 years. It was transformed into a non-stock, non-profit corporation the following year. In 2014, it began remitting dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury. In the succeeding year, the printing office skyrocketed its income to PHP1.21 billion, its highest-ever gain. A PHP1,065,958,000 revenue was achieved by the APO in 2018, PHP27.1 million of which went to the national treasury. Presently, the security printing office resides under the umbrella of the Presidential Communications Operations Office which redid the APO. As can be seen, the APO evolved from a mere printing office to a high security printing body.
The APO was able to possess the challenging, yet prideful task of producing the ePassport by taking a bold step in volunteering itself for the job, leaving behind the other government printing arms. Years before, amid the expiring contract with a certain private firm concerning the production of passports, the DFA had inquired to the three recognized government printers on whom wanted to shoulder the job. The APO was the only one who responded. In the process of the undertaking, it helped the foreign affairs agency to improve the latter’s services, the layout of passports, and its identification system.
Apart from the renowned production of the ePassport, the APO carries out the internationally-acclaimed Philippine excise tax project together with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The sin tax law triggered the birth of the project which infuses PHP11 to 13 billion monthly to the national government fund.
To date, the agency has two protected printing plants—one in Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City and the other at Lima Technology Center, Malvar, Batangas. Both shelter the superb printing equipment of the APO.
“Now, consistent with our mandate as an RGP, and as a result of increase in customers with enhanced volume and security requirement, APO decided in 2013 to proceed with capacity building, first, by acquiring an expanded facility that will house upgraded equipment and hardware for the printing of big volume accountable forms and high security documents. Due to its financial position at that time, APO proceeded with leasing a PEZA-registered property for that purpose, thus, was born the APO Lima printing facility,” APO Chairperson and President Michael Dalumpines narrates.
The more than-three hectare Batangas office, says APO Lima Plant Manager Leonardo de Jesus, enlists a great deal of security and houses some of the most modern printing hardware on the planet.
“For our security, we spare no expense. We purchase the best equipment out there. So, this equipment will protect the data that is stored in our servers. It’s fully encrypted either from at rest or from point to point or for any data that’s stored outside. So, we take this very seriously, and we ensure the general public that all the data is safe in our servers, and that they can rest at peace with thinking that there will be no breach,” guarantees Atayde.
The production of the ePassport requires a good deal of knowledge, technological competence, and passion for protection and privacy. A job that perfectly fits the APO. With its up-to-date, security-focused equipment and unwavering commitment to fulfill the production of high-stakes printouts, the APO is on the ground to execute its assignment on security printing resulting in, among others, the lofty ePassport that makes the Philippines at par with towering, highly developed nations out there.
