Travel group helps DFA process passport applications

MANILA, Philippines - An association of local travel agencies has agreed to assist the Department of Foreign Affairs to ease the time-consuming and tedious processing of passport applications. The six-month memorandum of agreement (MOA) singed last Tuesday by the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) and the DFA is expected to improve passport processing services. PTAA president Jose Clemente III said the agreement will take effect immediately after the signing. “Service is our business. The MOA is expected to ease the bottleneck in passport applications with the DFA in addition to the fact that we will be having our own area to process passport applications that are coursed through our members. We are thankful to the DFA for allowing us to enter into this partnership with them," Clemente said. He said that the association is the first private group to enter into such an arrangement with the DFA. Foreign affairs assistant secretary Domingo Lucenario Jr. said the agreement could streamline passport applications done through travel agencies. “There is a 10-day passport processing time for travel agencies. Our target is to make it seven days," Lucenario said. Under the MOA, the DFA will provide space for a special section where the PTAA can handle passport applications coming from its member companies. For its part, the PTAA will place a three-man team composed of a liaison officer and two encoders who will all be trained by the DFA on their respective responsibilities, functions, and tasks. The DFA will course all updates and information on changes in the passport processing system through PTAA teams. To assure that only passport applications from member companies are processed through the special lane, the PTAA will provide the DFA with specimen signatures of their representatives. “The PTAA will still be evaluating the situation. If we see that a three-man team cannot cope with the demands then we will request the DFA for us to place additional manpower," Clemente said. Lucenario has advised the PTAA to help eliminating identity theft. “Identity theft had happened before in travel agencies. We want them to take some form of responsibility on this. This partnership also has to address such irregularity," he said. According to Lucenario, the DFA has been addressing passport tampering and integrity concerns especially after the release of the new machine readable passports. He expects all passports to be machine readable by April 2010. Since 2006, average daily passport applications coursed through travel agencies range between 1, 200 to1, 800. Established in 1979, the PTAA claims to have over 500 affiliate travel and tourism groups nationwide. The association is also a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Tourism Association, Federation of Asean Travel Agencies, and the United Federation of Travel Agents Association. - GMANews.TV