E-passport gets P2.7-billion share in DFA's P10-B '08 budget

The government is setting aside P2.69 billion in the proposed P1.227-trillion budget for 2008 for the production of the new 44-page machine-readable passports in compliance with international requirements for travel documents. Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr said on Tuesday that the amount would be sufficient to produce 3, 714, 286 pieces of the electronic passport with security features to make it difficult to tamper. The new regular passport is a deviation from the green and red passports where data entries about the passport holder are written manually. In the new passport, the personal data about the passport holder is stored in an electronic chip. The allocation is tucked in the proposed P10.05 billion budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for 2008. “It is fully recoverable as applicants will pay for passport production and processing," said Andaya. Included in DFA’s expenditure budget is P90 million for the acquisition of “data capturing equipment" for printing of 3.7 million e-passport booklets. DFA’s proposed budget for 2008 is P2.5 billion bigger than its 2007 outlay mainly due to the rollout of new passports and the establishment of new diplomatic stations abroad. Allowances of foreign service personnel have been adjusted to reflect current peso-dollar exchange rates and the need to attend to the multifarious concerns of Philippine nationals and interests overseas. In a budget briefer sent by the DFA to the DBM, it explains that the new passport regime will greatly minimize passport irregularities, improve passport record storage and retrieval, and result in faster production and processing time. “It will lead to greater acceptance and credibility for Philippine travel documents," Andaya said. He added that one-fifth of passport booklets printed will be sent to the country’s 92 embassies and consulates for easier access by Filipinos overseas. - GMANews.TV