A MINDANAO lawmaker wants to transfer the task of issuing passports from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Bureau of Immigration.
“The expertise of the Department of Foreign Affairs is diplomacy. Its officials should focus their attention on good diplomatic relations with other countries, not the issuance of passports that distract them from their regular duties,” Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay said.
Pichay expressed belief that the immigration bureau is the best agency which can handle the 15,000 passport applications per day, or 3.5 million a year, since it is close to the work of the BI which monitors the trips abroad of Filipinos.
“The proposal is also for better monitoring of Filipinos traveling abroad,” Pichay said, adding that the transfer of the function from the DFA to the BI in terms of processing and issuance of passports “is just a matter of transition.”
“I know it is not easy, [but] I will draft it and then I will file it. I’m very serious about it,” Pichay said, adding that the idea was adopted from the policy of Hong Kong where Immigration handles the issuance of passports.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente earlier welcomed the idea of Pichay provided the administration will be able to provide the bureau the “needed infrastructure, as well as additional personnel and budget allocation.”
