(NI BERNARD TAGUINOD)

LALONG kinakabahan ang isang mambabatas sa Mababang Kapulungan ng Kongreso sa mga personal na seguridad ng mga Filipino matapos makuha umano ng isang kuwestiyonableng kumpanya ang kontrata bilang administrator ng National ID.

Ayon kay House deputy minority leader at Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate, nakuha umano ng Gemalto NV ang kontrata para implementasyon ng National ID system gayung sangkot ang mga ito aniya sa depektibong voter’s registration verification machines (VRVM) noong nakaraang eleksyon.

“This is another danger to the national ID system since the one that would act as its administrator, Gemalto NV, was already involved in the faulty VRVM just this last elections,” ani Zarate.

Ang Gemalto NV ay isang international digital security company na nagsu-supply ng software applications, security personal devices tulad ng smart card at pinakamalaking manufacturer ng sim cards.

“We should be wary, too, on the revelation of whistleblower Edward Snowden, which alleged that Gemalto was being used by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to steal SIM authentication keys, then secretly monitor mobile communications,” ayon pa sa mambabatas.

Idinagdag pa ng mambabatas na “…also last year, Estonian police were also seeking to recover 152 million euros ($178 M) in a lawsuit against Gemalto, following a recall in 2017 when security flaws were allegedly found in citizen ID cards produced by the firm.”

Kahit aniya ang information technology experts tulad ni Rafael R. Gutierrez, kinatawan ng Pilipinas sa United State US web security and cloud-based solutions, ay duda sa kapabilidad ng Gemalto.

“So it is really quite puzzling why the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) hired Nextix Inc., a subsidiary of Gemalto NV. In hindsight though the PSA is also being run by another foreign-linked company, the US-based Unisys,” ayon pa sa mambabatas.

Dahil dito, naghahanda ng resolusyon si Zarate para imbestigahan ito lalo na’t sisimulan na ang implementasyon ng national ID system na naglalaman ng detalye ng mga personal na impormasyon ng bawat Filipino.