Manila: A senator urged President Rodrigo Duterte to immediately act on extending the validity of Philippine passports, citing inconveniences experienced by overseas Filipinos.
Senator Ralph Recto, the minority leader, said the President has the authority to immediately act on extending the validity of the passports from the present five years to 10. He said that Duterte had expressed in his previous speeches that he favours prolonging the effectivity of the vital travel document.
Recto asked Duterte to officially certify as “priority measure” any of the bills lengthening the validity of the travel document to hasten the legislative process needed for such.
Recto recalled that during his maiden presidential State of the Nation Address last July, the President mentioned that passports should have a longer expiry dates to lessen inconvenience to Filipinos, especially overseas workers who often had to spend much in incidental costs and bear the hardships of renewing their travel documents.
In his speech, Duterte recalled how hurt he was seeing passport applicants queue overnight and sleep on the pavement outside a mall in Davao City where the Department of Foreign Affairs maintained a satellite office.
Once it is certified as a priority measure by the President, the passport extension measure would in effect expedite the tedious process.
Extending the validity period of a Philippine passport from five to 10 years is one low-hanging fruit Congress can pick, a move that will immediately benefit millions of Filipino travellers and migrant workers, Recto said.
Extending the validity of the passport would require a revision of Republic Act (RA) 8239, the Philippine Passport Act of 1996.
Days before Duterte issued his SONA call, Recto filed Senate Bill 795, extending the passport validity to 10 years, by amending Section 10 of RA 8239.
In his bill’s explanatory note, Recto specifically cited the inconveniences experienced by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in securing a passport.
“Most OFWs are allowed to return to the Philippines from two weeks to a month for a vacation but the application, processing of passports can take up that entire period,” he said.
“This might be too short a time for OFWs to secure new passports. Many spend their entire vacation in queues for multiple government-issued permits needed for their employment,” he lamented.
Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the former President and who now chairs the House technical working group (TWG) consolidating a number of measures filed before the chamber seeking to lengthen the validity of passports, said they are currently working to extend the period of the travel document’s validity.
She said the TWG is not introducing any other amendments to the Passport Law so as to expedite the process of turning the measure into a new law.
Under a consolidated proposal, adults or those 18 years and above will enjoy a passport validity of 10 years while minors, or those aged zero to 17 years, will have five-year valid official travel document.
