House panel approves printing of Philippine map, EEZ, Sabah on passports

The House committee on foreign affairs on Thursday approved a substitute bill requiring the printing of the country’s map, including its 200-mile exclusive economic zone and Sabah, on Philippine passports.

In a statement, Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez said the printing of the country’s map on the travel document will “emphasize and insist” the country’s victory on the West Philippine Sea over China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, Netherlands, and its legal and historical rights over Sabah.

Rodriguez was the author of House Bill 6399 which has been consolidated into the substitute bill that would amend the Passport Law.

“The inclusion of the map on our travel document is a strong statement that we are asserting our sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea and our EEZ,” he said.

Meanwhile, the panel, chaired by Zamboanga Sibugay Representative Ann Hofer, also approved the measure granting senior citizens a 32% discount on all passport issuance and renewal fees.

Rodriguez added that the committee also approved the online application for senior citizens for passport issuance and renewal.

“This will do away with personal appearance by seniors in Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) consular offices,” he said.

Rodriguez said the bill also provides for an emergency travel document to be issued to any Filipino citizen with urgent travel plans but has lost his or her passport or whose passport has expired.

It likewise criminalizes the illegal withholding of passports by anyone, especially aliens from their holders or owners, he added.

The amendatory measure imposes stiffer penalties on violators. If the offender is an alien, he or she would be deported and blacklisted after service of sentence.

Moreover, Rodriguez urged the DFA to fast track the third generation e-passport program to modernize the country’s passports “to be at par with the highest international standards.”

Rodriguez said he and his colleagues pushed for the amendments in honor of late Senior Citizens partylist Representative Francisco Datol.

“He was vice chairman of the committee and was author of a bill to give a lifetime validity of passports issued to senior citizens,” he said.—AOL, GMA News