e-Passport system to be made available in Iloilo soon
The Ilonggos will soon avail of the world standard technology introduced to enhance the security of its travel documents.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regional office in Western Visayas disclosed in a PIA interview that as soon as their concerned personnel have undergone training from their Central Office on the said technology, they will implement the e-Passport system.
Mr. Cresenciano Erpe of the DFA 6 said that the ePassport is highly secure, and the Filipino travelers and migrant workers would benefit the most from this DFA and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas joint project.
The DFA office in Iloilo City has an average of 200 to 250 per day passport applications processed daily in their current machine readable passport (MRP) system.
According to the DFA briefer, an ePassport is a passport which features microchip technology. An integrated circuit (chip) within its pages contains the data that are essential in verifying the identity of the passport holder. These data include the personal data found on the data page of the passport, the biometrics of the passport holder, the unique chip identification number, and a digital signature to verify the authenticity of the data stored on the chip.
The chip technology allows the information stored in an ePassport to be read by special chip readers at a close distance.
The issuance of the ePassport makes the Philippines compliant with international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), of which it is a member.
Filipino travellers and migrant workers stand to benefit the most from the globally-compliant ePassport currently being used in over 60 countries. The Philippine ePassport will be available for a fee of P950, making it one of the lowest-priced ePassports in the world.
However, Filipino passport applicants may still choose between the ePassport or the machine readable passport (MRP) currently priced at P500.
The DFA press report on the other hand, disclosed that no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the first recipient of the e-Passport presented to her by DFA Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, during the launching of the e-passport recently, making the country at par with developed countries.(PIA6/T.Villavert)