It was not the first time that the passport production deal has been placed under scrutiny during President Rodrigo Duterte’s term following the revealing tweets of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. calling attention to a “passport fraud” that caused the loss of data from the travel documents.

It was already established then that the anomalous deal was a lucrative yellow operation through President Noynoy Aquino’s several mouthpieces.

Locsin said the problem started at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and “got worse” during Noynoy’s term.

The worse incidence apparently happened after the designated government passport contractor state-run APO Production Unit Inc. (APUI) outsourced the deal with the private United Graphic Expression Corp. (UGEC).

In January 2017, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo issued a legal opinion on the behest of then Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. saying APUI committed grave abuse of discretion and should be probed for criminal and administrative liability for tapping UGEC for the implementation of the e-passport project.

Panelo, who is also now presidential spokesman, said a supplemental agreement would not legitimize the illegal subcontract between APUI and UGEC because the transaction was consummated in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Administrative Code and rules and regulations on government procurement.

It was Rody’s first DFA chief Perfecto Yasay who revealed that the APUI deal was a move to take the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) out of the passport deal and which happened in October 2015 through the initiative of Noynoy’s Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma and Maria Montelibano, a close adviser of the Aquinos going way back the term of President Cory, Noynoy’s late mother.

APUI, which is under the PCOO, was described in the agreement as the only recognized government printer willing to print the e-passport.

The other two government printers are the National Printing Office and the BSP.

The Department of Budget and Management under then Liberal Party strategist Butch Abad issued a Multi-Year Obligational Authority to the DFA for the printing of e-passports for 10 years, covering the period of 2016 to 2026.

Panelo’s opinion said APUI “should refrain from engaging, subcontracting or assigning the printing of passports to private entities including UGEC.”

He said if abrogation of the joint venture agreement (JVA) between APUI and UGEC would render APUI incapable of performing its contractual obligations under a memorandum of agreement with the DFA, the government “may then have sufficient basis to terminate the same in accordance with its terms and conditions.”

​Panelo added the JVA was “void for being ultra vires” or “an act committed by an entity beyond the powers conferred upon it by law.”

Under the agreement between APUI and the DFA signed 5 October 2015, APUI is “required by law, rules and regulations to use its own facilities, equipment and machinery in printing the passports for the DFA.”

​It was revealed that the contract was tailor-fitted for APO since it tapped UGEC on 14 November 2014 or 11 months prior to the e-passport contract.

​Prior to the yellow racket, printing of passports was handled solely by BSP.

​The DFA, then under Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, vetted APUI as an authorized supplier/service provider for the production and printing of “accountable forms and sensitive high quality/volume” documents, including passports and tax stamps.

APUI obtained the contract despite not having technical capability and equipment to satisfy its obligations to the DFA. It then hired the services of UGEC as subcontractor.

“Such subcontracting arrangement or assignment may subject the APUI and/or UGEC officials responsible for the same to criminal and administrative liabilities pursuant to Republic Act 9184 and 3019, the Administrative Code of 1987 and other applicable procurement and criminal laws,” Panelo stated in his legal opinion.

The deal was brought out by Locsin after he received complaints in his social media account from overseas Filipino workers.

The controversy may become the yellow cabal’s passport for a well-earned vacation at the National Bilibid Prison resort.