* UPDATE: Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr has scrapped the birth certificate requirement for renewing passports. He also now says that data has not been lost, tweeting "Data is not run-away-able but made inaccessible. Access denied,"
As the Duterte administration is said to be seriously investigating an alleged passport data breach, it has stated its opinion regarding birth certificate requirements when renewing passports.
According to Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, "The ongoing practice is not only cumbersome to everyone affected but is a form of red tape which this administration frowns upon and will not tolerate.
Mr Panelo states that an old passport should be enough to renew it, and that applicants should not take on the burden of obtaining and submitting original birth certificates "just because the producer lost their relevant data."
In a tweet, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr said that a contractor employed by his department had "made off" with passport data.
"Not only is it a threat to national security but also a threat to our identities," Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde states,
On the other hand, Mr Panelo says, "We don't even know if the data is gone or not. Maybe it's just there."
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