Solon: File charges vs govt execs, contractor in national ID mess

AN administration lawmaker yesterday called for the filing of appropriate charges against the contractor and all those who were responsible for the bungled P2.1-billion contract for the manufacture and distribution of national identification cards.

“Hindi pwedeng walang makakasuhan sa korte sa major kapalpakan na ito. Huwag hayaan na makatakas sa responsibilidad ang mga may sala. Mayroon dapat managot, pati mga padrino ng failed contractor (It’s unacceptable that no one will be charged in courts for this fiasco. We should not allow those who did this to escape responsibility. Someone has to be held accountable, including the backers of the contractor),” Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Flores said in a statement.

The Monetary Board, which sets the policies of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), earlier terminated the contract with All Card Inc. (ACI).

In terminating the contract, the BSP said that only 57.9 million personalized national ID cards were produced between 2022 and 2023, which is 58.1 million short of the targeted 116 million cards for Filipinos.

This resulted in a production loss of P1.06 billion, equivalent to 49.91 percent of the P2.1-billion contract awarded to AllCard.

Because of this deficiency, the BSP has demanded the contractor to pay P640.9 million in total liquidated damages, or equivalent to 30.24 percent of the contract price.

ACI has asked for a thorough review of its performance and appealed the decision, saying that the case is now under arbitration.

Flores called for the resignation of the head of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), saying “he must go back to the academe where he will have the time to lick his wounds and undergo a serious reality check.”

He said the Monetary Board must also immediately dismiss the BSP bidding committee officials “who failed the Filipino people.” “We will accept nothing less,” he said, adding: “Hindi ito ang unang major contract na mayroong major IT features na pumalpak. Klarong madaling nabobola o nagpapabola ang mga ahensya at bidding committees. Duda rin tayo sa technical capability ng mga ahensya at bidding committees na sumusuri sa bidding documents (This isn’t the first major contract with major