MANILA—Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Saturday said the government should file charges against a company that allegedly "made off" with Filipinos' passport data after its services were terminated.

Drilon was reacting to the incident that was made public earlier in the day by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin.

• Locsin says 'pissed' contractor 'took all' passport data

"Sa akin po dapat sampahan ng kaso kung hindi po isasauli nitong dating service contractor, to compel that company to return the [data], kung too man ’yun na hindi isinauli," Drilon told radio DWIZ.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) disclosed the data loss after someone on Twitter asked Locsin about the need to present his birth certificate to renew his travel document.

Drilon said: "Itong birth certificates are public record, public documents, ito po ay bawal sa batas na hawakan nila, ng service contractor. Meron pong sapat na basehan para sampahan ng kaso itong service contractor."

Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto, meanwhile, remained confident the data will be returned to the government.

"Palagay ko hindi naman dapat ikabahala pero dapat ikainis. Palagay ko kaya naman ng DFA na magkaroon ng enough protection on the matter," he said.

"Tingin ko makukuha natin ’yun, hindi maaaring hindi. Magkakaproblema sila. Palagay ko dapat iturn over nila ’yun.
Palagay ko the DFA would know what to do."

Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros earlier said the Duterte administration "owes the entire country an explanation" over the stolen data.

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has said it would launch an investigation into the incident.

• National Privacy Commission to probe DFA passport data mess