| By Joel San Juan |
| Reporter |
| THE Supreme Court (SC) has issued a ruling effectively allowing the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to proceed with its passport modernization project, which was earlier stopped by the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) by virtue of a temporary restraining order (TRO). In a two-page resolution, the Court’s Third Division granted the petition for the issuance of another TRO enjoining respondents Pasig City RTC Branch 71 presiding judge Franco Falcon and BCA International Corporation from implementing the assailed order dated February 14, 2007. “The Court resolves to grant the Office of the Solicitor General’s urgent motion . . . and issue a temporary restraining order, as prayed for, enjoining respondents from implementing the assailed ordered dated February 14, 2007 issued by respondent Judge Franco Falcon. . . ” resolution stated. “Now, therefore, you, your agents, representatives and/or any person or persons acting upon your orders or in your place or stead, are hereby enjoined from executing and implementing the order dated February 14, 2007 and writ of preliminary injunction dated February 23, 207. . .,” the High Court added. The Court also directed the respondents to comment within 10 days on the OSG’s petition. Earlier, Sen. Mar Roxas II warned that the country would face a passport shortage by June if the project remains on hold, because it takes the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) seven months to produce each batch of passports; and the DFA had not made new orders for the existing type of passports on the expectation that it would have to implement soon the modern machine-readable ones. The Philippines is one of a few countries that still don’t have machine-readable passports, and Roxas warned this would keep Filipino passport holders at the perennial end of strict scrutiny, especially in the global campaign against terrorism, since the current type is prone to being faked. In the February 14 lower court ruling, the Pasig RTC granted the petition of BCA, a private firm, seeking to enjoin the DFA and BSP, which issues passport paper, from awarding a new contract to implement the e-Passport project. |
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0316&172007/headlines03.html
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