THE House of Representatives is expected to enact soon a measure seeking to lengthen the validity of the Philippine passport to 10 years for adults and five years for minors.
This came after a technical working group of the House committee on foreign affairs, chaired by Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, finished consolidating 22 bills that would amend Republic Act 8239, or the “Philippine Passport Law,” prolonging to five years the validity of passports of minors, aged zero to 17 years old.
For passports of adults, or those 18 years old and above, the validity shall be 10 years.
Arroyo said it was not the intention of the authors of the bills to introduce any other amendment to the existing law, but only to lengthen the passport’s validity.
The former president said the present five-year passport validity “is rather too short given the tedious process and cost it requires to obtain or renew a passport.”
Reps. Aniceto Bertiz III of OFW party-list and Leopoldo Bataoil of Pangasinan supported the amendment during the TWG meeting.
Under Section 10 of RA 8239, the passport is valid for five years, regardless of the age of the applicant.
With the amendment approved by the TWG, the provision of the law shall read:
“Section 10. Validity. Regular passports issued under this Act shall be valid for a period of five years for minors, ages zero to seventeen [0-17] years old and 10 years for adults 18 years old and above:
“Provided, however, that the issuing authority may limit the period of validity to less than 10 years; whenever in the national economic interest or political stability of the country such restriction is necessary:
“Provided, finally, that a new passport may be issued to replace one which validity has expired, the old passport being returned to the holder after cancellation.”
The present law refers to passport as “a document issued by the Philippine government to its citizens and requesting other governments to allow its citizens to pass safely and freely, and in case of need to give him/her all lawful aid and protection.”
The consolidated bill will be presented to the committee on foreign affairs chaired by Bulacan Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica in its next hearing.
