PHL passport drops to 72nd spot; visa-free destinations remain at 66

The Philippine passport returned to its previous rank of 72 in the latest Henley Passport Index, dropping two ranks from its spot at 70 earlier this year.

In spite of this, the latest update of the index that surveyed 199 passports of 277 countries, territories, and micro-states, noted that the Philippine passport remains the seventh strongest in the Southeast Asia region.

Filipinos also still have visa-free access to 66 different countries, including China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Meanwhile, Japan and Singapore now share the honor of having the strongest passports in the world with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 189 destinations.

Both countries knocked Germany off the top spot for the first time since 2013 by gaining visa-free access to Uzbekistan this year.

Indonesia was noted to be the only Southeast Asian nation to improve its ranking since May, aided by gaining visa-free access to Brazil.

The updated 2018 Henley Passport Index "looked into the travel freedom of countries based on an authoritative database of travel information."

"The index is innovating how travel freedom is measured and mapped, making it easier for individuals to understand where exactly they lie on the spectrum of global mobility," stated the global citizenship and residence advisory firm. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News