DFA puts up additional passport hub in Cebu

TO EASE the backlog of passport applications, the Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA has opened one temporary offsite passport service hub in Cebu City and four others – Davao in Mindanao; Fairview in Quezon City; Manila City and Lipa City in Batangas.

DFA Assistant Secretary Senen Mangalile said they are now targeting to clear the more than 20,000 passport application backlog by the end of the month. Mangalile said out of the 696,412 passport applications from July 9 to October 2, the DFA has transmitted 93% and 4% are still being verified while 3% are suspended due to errors in the forms submitted by the applicants.

“Realistically speaking, if we won't be able to make it by October, that will take another two weeks before we are able to overhaul the entire suspended application backlog," Mangalile said, adding, the DFA is also addressing the issues besetting the release and delivery of passports.

Some 184,935 passports were printed last August, but some 4,000 passports remain undelivered, Mangalile said.

Last month, at least 223,238 passports were released, but about 13,000 were undelivered due to issues with addresses or the recipient's lack of a letter of authority to receive in the absence of the applicant.

"Sa mga hindi nakasagot sa aming e-mail o tawag, tignan sa passport tracking system ang inyong pangalan dahil maaaring available na ang inyong passport for pick-up,” Mangalile said.

Amid complaints of late deliveries, the DFA is now planning to tap the courier firm LBC and two other companies to deliver the passports door-to-door. Compared to the four million passports released in 2019, the DFA was only able to process about 1.7 million in 2020 due to the restrictions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The DFA maintained that passport applications normally adhere to the turn-around time of 12 days from the date of biometrics capture. It said delayed applications were caused by applicants’ errors in the names or dates of birth in the online application form, which required manual correction.

Over 26,000 such applications were received by the DFA since July, which was trimmed down to 17,000 despite a spike in Covid-19 cases among its ranks. The DFA urged the public to ensure accuracy with their personal information and said that applicants with errors on their forms are now required to return for another appointment.

For overseas Filipino workers urgently requiring passport issuance, the DFA said they are able to access its Courtesy Lane facility by requesting appointments through e-mail. From September alone, the Passport Courtesy Lane received 4,892 e-mail requests and was able to act on 4,097 of them.

Also between 01 August and September, the DFA said it received 80,470 other e-mails from the public and responded to 58,246 of them despite having limited personnel.

The DFA assured the public that passport appointment slots for October to December 2021 have not yet been loaded while it makes adjustments to the system to secure it against enterprising groups or individuals who sell passport slots on social media. Passport appointment slots are free and may only be booked online using the DFA’s official website. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Cebu Examiner)