House eyes bill on 10-year passport

(The Philippine Star) Updated November 26, 2010

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives foreign affairs committee will most likely endorse a bill giving Filipinos the option of getting a passport valid for 10 years instead of the current five-year passport.

Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara, committee chairman, said yesterday his panel supports his Bill 3435. “Most passport applicants are overseas Filipino workers. They should be given the choice of having passports with either a five-year or a 10-year validity,” he said.

He added that a 10-year passport should be available not only to overseas workers but to all applicants.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday to increase the passport processing quota allotted to travel agencies from 700 slots per day to 2,000 slots.

PTAA president Maria Paz Alberto said passport processing is one of the main services travel agencies offer, and “we have more than 400 member travel agencies nationwide. We believe it is only fair for the DFA to give us 2,000 slots daily.”

She said the DFA accommodates 4,600 individual applicants daily for passport processing. Out of this figure, travel agencies are given 700 slots. However, Alberto said the DFA admitted that 31 percent of people scheduled for passport processing each day – 1,426 out of 4,600 – do not show up.

“Why not just give those slots to travel agencies?” she said. – Jess Diaz, Pia Lee-Brago