Senator Grace Poe on Sunday said she will introduce an amendment to the proposed P19.56-billion budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs for 2018 to freeze the fee for passports which will now be valid for 10 years.
Poe said she will push for the inclusion of an “anti-passport price increase” provision in the agency’s budget next year.
“We can add one line which stipulates that the allocation is subject to the condition that the amount DFA will charge for a 10-year passport will not be increased and will remain the same as the fee for the current five-year passport,” she said.
The DFA charges P950 for “regular processing” or passport delivery within 15 working days and P1,200 for “express processing” within seven working days.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law in August a measure which extends the period of validity of a Philippine passport from five to 10 years, except for minors whose passports will only be valid for five years.
“We just want to ensure that the price in getting a passport will not be doubled since the length of its validity will be doubled,” Poe said.
She said that for most Filipino travelers, the current 44-page passport, 39 pages of which are stampable, would suffice.
“Not all Filipinos are jetsetters. If the DFA will issue a passport that will have more pages, then the best recourse is to maintain the current price, or call for extensive hearings, especially among OFWs, if they plan to charge more,” Poe said.
About three-million Filipinos apply for new passports or renew theirs annually.
“There is no need for the government to gain interest in issuing a document needed by our OFWs for their livelihood,” she said, noting that OFW remittances amounted to P1.34 trillion last year.
“Maintaining affordable passports is the least we can extend to our OFWs for their sacrifices,” Poe said.