The Department of Social Welfare and Development said its automated processing of travel clearance for minors travelling abroad is a vital tool in expediting transactions and doing away with the interventions of ‘fixers’ and ‘middlemen’ in the process of obtaining government-issued permits.
Assistant Secretary Ada Colico of the DSWD’s Protective Programs said the newly-launched system only allows parents or guardians to apply for minors’ travel clearance.
“The only people who can create an account are the parents or the accompanying adult or guardian. Fixers are not allowed,” Colico said.
As part of the government’s preventive measures against child-trafficking, a travel clearance is issued by the DSWD for minors or individuals below 18 years old travelling outside the Philippines who are not accompanied by any of the parents or persons having parental responsibility or legal custody over the child.
Colico explained that in the old manual, the system was time-consuming on the part of parents and guardians, which often prompted them to rely on the services of middle men such as travel agents, or worse, fixers in order to obtain travel clearance or certificate of exemption from the DSWD.
“Sometimes there is only a Special Power of Attorney or SPA that is given to our travel agents and they are the ones who process which is risky on our part, because we are the ones held accountable there,” she added.
Under the streamlined process of securing travel clearance, parents or guardians no longer need to physically visit the DSWD regional offices and can now submit their applications directly via the online system.
Applicants can receive their requested document in just 1-3 working days upon their compliance to complete and verified documents.
According to Colico, the digitized system is a sustainable way to address red tape and the public’s vulnerability to fixers while ensuring that minors’ travelling outside the country have received the full consent of their parents and legal guardians.