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DFA opened 800,000 new passport appointment slots, exec says


The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has opened around 800,000 passport appointment slots to the public across the country, an official said on Thursday.

DFA Assistant Secretary Henry Bensurto made the remark during the organizational meeting of the Senate foreign affairs committee.

The chairman of the committee Senator Imee Marcos questioned the DFA regarding the available slots since the agency’s website indicated that slots would be opened by March next year.

“We are aware of the problems that have been encountered in the past. In the last six weeks from the time, I have assumed we have adopted measures both short term, medium term and long term now to address those issues of appointment,” Bensurto said.

“We have opened the slots. We are aware that it’s a question of slots also. And so, we are continuing to open more slots. In fact, as of now, we have opened something like 800,000 slots already,” he added.

He said available slots in some areas would be opened in September and October, adding that there would also be passport on wheels and courtesy lanes for senior citizens, persons with disabilities and pregnant women.

“We have conducted several of these (passport on wheels). The whole idea is to bring the government closer to people rather than wait to come to us. And so, this is on-going,” Bensurto told Marcos.

“May I take this opportunity and assistance for the continuance of temporary offsite passport site. Because they’re about to expire in December 2022. Every offsite can process 500 applications a day,” he added.

Moreover, the DFA official said they are also pushing for the availability of emergency passports.

“In theory, as a matter of principle, there may be some need for an emergency passport, regarding emergency or special cases. For example, a person whose relative died will not have time to apply for an ordinary passport but needs to go to a certain place,” Bensurto explained.

“A person who has to be somewhere and yet his passport has been lost. In those instances, it takes about 15-day as a clearing period. If circumstances justify it, we have to have some leeway to allow that personal travel but with some restrictions. But there are also possible abuses that’s why we are willing to work with your staff to make sure that if we are going in that direction the Cases where issued will have some safety nets or safeguards to prevent any abuse of the,” he furthered.

As a response, Marcos said she has support on the DFA’s programs as it would speed up the processing of passports.

“I think this is also opportune and a chance for you to institutionalize the mobile, temporary, and offsite efforts that DFA has made. Ilagay niyo na ‘yan sa batas kasi may emergency, ilagay nyo na rin ang kailangan niyo, yung mga offsite na hindi naman pinopondohan, yung mga mobile applications na kakarampot lang ang perang binibigay pero malaking tulong sa amin. All these kinds of things, siguro pwede nang isama diyan,” she said.

(I think this is also opportune and a chance for you to institutionalize the mobile, temporary, and offsite efforts that DFA has made. Put that in the law, put in what you need, the offsites that are not funded, the mobile applications that are only given meager money but are a big help to us. All these kinds of things, maybe it can be included in that.)

Philippine Passport Law

Meanwhile, the DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo said they support the move of the Senate to enhance the current Philippine Passport Law.

“It is in line with the thrust of DFA to further improve the passport application process by simplifying procedures, especially accessibility to the general public and also maintaining the security and integrity of the Philippine Passport,” Manalo said.

The DFA however also turned down Senate Bill No. 657 filed by Senator Raffy Tulfo seeking to give senior citizens ‘’lifetime’’ passports.

Bensurto said international standards do not allow the validity of passports to exceed 10 years.

“No country at the moment is doing that practice. We did inquiries with other governments on the validity of no countries thinking along those lines. I wanted to point out the difficulty with lifetime validity,” he said.

“In consideration of the limited durability of the document, and changing appearances of the document holder, a validity of 10 years is recommended,” he added.

Under Republic Act No. 10928, the law that extends the validity of Philippine passports from five years to 10 years.

Regular passports issued to Filipinos aged 18 and above at the time of application shall be valid for 10 years while those issued to minors shall be valid for five years. —NB, GMA News

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