SENATOR Sonny Angara urged the Department of Foreign Affairs Friday not to delay the issuance of the Implementing Rules and Regulations to implement R.A. 10928, or the Amendments to the Philippine Passport Law, that extends the validity of Philippine passports from five to 10 years.
“I am calling on my good friend, Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, to place a ‘Do not delay sign’ on the rollout of the 10-year Philippine passport,” said Angara.
“The earlier it can be introduced, the better for millions of overseas Filipino workers and those who travel abroad on budget tours,” he added.
He cited the crucial role of the Foreign Affairs department in drafting the law’s IRR.
The new passport law, co-authored by Angara in the Upper Chamber, effectively amends R.A. 8239 or the Philippine Passport Act of 1996.
He noted that an average of 250,000 Filipinos apply every month for new passports or renew theirs, based on a recent DFA report that they process around 3 million applications a year.
“If the passport with a longer validity can be introduced six months ahead of schedule, then that would be 1.5 million Filipinos benefitting early because of the new law,” Angara said.
He stressed that if it would be delayed for six months, then almost 1.5 million eould be affected.
The senator suggested that to expedite things, the DFA could use for now the current 44-page passport.
“They can just use those with nany pages later. Not all of our countrymen need thick passport,” said the vice chairman of the Senate finance committee.
Angara issued this reminder “out of the fear that red tape will delay the release of the 10-year valid passport if the DFA will decide to study first if they will have to introduce a new series that would include more pages.”
“But knowing Secretary Alan, who by the way championed the measure when he was the Senate foreign relations committee chair, he wouldn’t want the implementation to be delayed, too,” he stressed.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said shorter lines and less time would be spent at the DFA with this new development.
He said this would be the immediate benefit of new laws signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Pimentel was optimistic the lighter work load of the DFA would allow it to improve the processing times of passports.
According to the DFA website, the regular processing time of new passport applications and renewals is 10-15 working days in Metro Manila, and 30 working days in its regional consular offices.
Expedited processing times, on the other hand, are five to seven working days for applications in Metro Manila, and 20 working days in DFA’s regional consular offices.
