MANILA — The production of National ID cards has been put on hold after the termination of one of its contracts under the program, AllCard Inc. (ACI) said on Tuesday, but the firm denied that it was the cause of delay.

• BSP terminates contract with national ID supplier

 In an interview with ABS-CBN News, ACI President Roy Ebora confirmed that printing of ID cards has been halted since contract has been terminated.

 ACI holds two contracts under the national ID program: Lot 1 for the production of blank cards and Lot 2 for card printing.

With Lot 1 terminated, ACI said it has yet to get an advice from the BSP on how to proceed with the operations for Lot 2. 

“We’re now in a predicament where we have two contracts with the BSP where one contract is dependent on the other contract. But the other contract cannot proceed because BSP terminate the first contract,” Ebora said.

• National ID supplier challenges contract termination

 Some 60 million cards have been produced under the Lot 1 contract but not all have been printed on, according to ACI. 

“Around 53 million to 55 million of that have already been personalized... Definitely there will be cards that will be wasted because it will not go to Lot 2 which is the personalization of cards,” Ebora said. 

ACI has been involved in government printing projects since 2010, including card solutions for UMID cards of the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System, Pagibig Loyalty cards, and driver’s license cards of the Land Transportation Office. 

The Monetary Board of the BSP terminated its Lot 1 contract with ACI last week due to non-compliance of contract terms. 

In a statement, the central bank which is tasked to oversee the production of National ID cards said it is prohibited from disclosing matters related to the pending arbitration of the contract. 

For ACI’s part, the company maintains it conformed to BSP’s requirements despite production limitations during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ebora added that the hiccups in card production stemmed from the materials supplier for the cards. 

Concerns on the materials supplier were communicated to the BSP since 2021, according to Ebora. 

“Aside from the COVID years, we also had challenges when it comes to certain materials that were sensitive to the project… We were able to escalate that because that particular material was chosen by the BSP. Unfortunately, we were not heard by the BSP in terms of our disputes with them,” Ebora explained. 

Ebora stressed that their involvement in the program is only in card production which is at the tail-end of the project. 

“We’re just printing the cards. The project actually is divided into several parts, where the PSA is the one executing it. There’s the data gathering. There’s the data processing side of the project,” Ebora said. 

“I hope the national government sees this project in totality, holistically. What were the real reasons in terms of the delay in the project,” he added. 

Philippine Statistics Authority National Statistician Undersecretary Dennis Mapa maintained that the basis of the contract termination was from the BSP. 

"ACI is the service provider of the BSP. The reasons behind the suspension came from the BSP," Mapa told ABS-CBN News in a text message. 

ACI reaffirmed its commitment for its part in the project, noting its efforts to run a 24/7 card production to address backlogs. 

“Initially, it wasn’t supposed to be 24 hours… We were forced by the BSP, under mutual considerations, to run the printing of the cards 24/7… we incurred additional cost with the project because as far as our financials were concerned, we did not budget for a 24/7. But because of our commitment to the BSP and commitment to the government and seeing to it that we really need to fast track the project, we agreed to go 24/7,” Ebora explained. 

Despite the controversy, ACI is willing to continue its responsibilities to the national ID program. 

The company also welcomed calls for a Senate investigation to look into the matter. 

ABS-CBN News has reached out to BSP on ACI’s statements and it has yet to respond.

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