GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — For the longest time, people have been complaining about the state of the passport service system.
Why aren’t there enough online appointment slots? How come there are unscrupulous individuals selling passport appointment slots for as high as P10,000 per appointment slot? Why is the system so inconvenient? How come there are so many requirements?
The space in this column is probably not enough if I were to enumerate the questions and comments the Department of Foreign Affairs has been receiving about the issue.
Suffice to say, consular-related concerns make up 90 percent of the total number of queries that we receive in social media alone. More and more Filipinos consider having a passport as a must-have, rather than something that’s simply nice to have and this has translated into an increase in the demand for passports by an additional 600,000 in the past year. There are many reasons why this is so.
In a recent study conducted by the National Economic Development Authority, the buying power of Filipinos is increasing. This means that more and more of us are now able to afford today what used to be considered luxuries yesterday.
In the proverbial basket of goods that Filipinos allocate a budget for, more individuals have included ‘travel’ among basic needs such as food, rent, and clothing. The boom is travel is attributed to the availability of more affordable fares, the presence of more lucrative career opportunities overseas, and travel as a status symbol especially among active social media users today.
Another reason why the surge in passport demand has skyrocketed is because a passport is considered one of the most secure and reliable types of identification.
Hence, in the absence of a national ID, people opt to use their passports as a valid ID to comply with the requirements of say, opening a bank account, for example.
What most of the public usually don’t see in the midst of all this clamor are hundreds of men and women in the DFA who are relentlessly trying to meet the demand. The public’s inputs definitely have not fallen on deaf ears and in the recent years, significant strides have been taken in order to make the system better.
The DFA, for example, has been bringing consular services closer to more people over the years. This doesn’t just come in the form of additional regional consular offices such as the one we have in Robinson’s Dumaguete but it also comes in the form of mobile consular outreach missions which are being undertaken both in the Philippines and overseas.
Last year, for example, the DFA processed more than 50,000 passports through these mobile consular missions across close to 50 local government units nationwide. This figure doesn’t even include the consular missions done overseas.
To make the passport application system easier and more convenient, the DFA has also simplified the process by streamlining the requirements needed to apply for or renew their passports and you can easily check this when you visit consular.dfa.gov.ph.
The DFA has also undertaken the massive job of cancelling out more than 50,000 bogus appointments and has restricted the use of the priority lane to senior citizens (and one accompanying family member), persons with disabilities, minors who are seven years old and below (accompanied by a parent), visibly pregnant women, and solo parents with their minor children.
Starting Jan. 1 this year, the validity of Philippine passports issued to applicants who are 18 years old or older has been extended to 10 years with no increase in the passport processing fee.
This is obviously more convenient because it means that we don’t have to keep returning to a consular office to have our passports renewed every five years or so.
And what steps have been taken in order to free up more passport appointment slots? Every day, appointment slots are being freed up in batches but the demand continues to surge such that the situation is reminiscent to an airline company conducting a Piso Sale with millions of clients competing for a thousand appointment slots. However, the DFA is working to improve the system every day.
As for the individuals selling passport appointment slots, suffice to say that what they are doing is illegal. It’s a violation of the Passport Act of 1996. Passport appointment slots are free of charge and you can keep track of its availability in passport.gov.ph.
The DFA has been playing the hardball with these fixers. In fact, a group of fixers were rounded up by the authorities very recently and more than 200 social media pages and groups selling passport appointment slots have been taken down. This could not have been made possible without the help of citizens who reported these fixers to the proper authorities.
It’s a long game but with the help of a public that is willing to work hand in hand with the DFA in strengthening the integrity of the passport service system, the goal isn’t far from being achieved.
_______________________________
Author’s email: [email protected]
