New passports with extended validity —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday vowed to make the passport application process seamless and convenient as he led the launch of new passports with a 10-year validity.
Cayetano attributed the backlog in the online appointments system to the sheer rise in the number of applicants— around 600,000—last year.
He led the handing out of the first passports with extended validity to applicants at the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) Office of Consular Affairs in Parañaque City.
Cayetano said that in addition to the current 28 consular offices processing 9,000 passports a day, the DFA will be setting up more offices in the provinces: San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte; Santiago City, Isabela; either Malolos or Meycauayan cities in Bulacan; Calamba or San Pablo cities in Laguna; Dasmariñas City, Cavite; Antipolo City, Rizal; Oroquieta or Ozamis cities in Misamis Occidental; and Tagum City, Davao del Norte.
These offices will be processing 4,500 passports more daily.
There will also be four “passport-on-wheels” units to be deployed in Metro Manila, which would process an additional 2,500 a day. —JEROME ANING