GMA orders DFA to resolve shortage of RP passports

President Arroyo ordered yesterday Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona to immediately resolve the reported shortage of Philippine passports.

The Chief Executive told reporters during a regular luncheon media briefing that she has told Guingona to thresh out the shortage with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which prints the country’s passport booklets.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced that it has ordered an additional 1.2 million passport booklets from the BSP even as the BSP stepped up its deliveries of passports.

DFA assistant secretary for consular affairs Belen Anota said the BSP has hastened the delivery of the DFA’s unfilled order for passports although the delivery is not due till September.

The BSP, which earlier claimed it had already delivered 460,499 of the 800,000 passports ordered by the DFA ahead of schedule, delivered another batch of passport booklets yesterday.

The hastening of the production and delivery process was among the points agreed upon by DFA Undersecretary Merlin Magallona and BSP Deputy Governor Armando Suratos during a meeting late Tuesday.

At the same time, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) downplayed reports that the reported shortage would seriously affect the deployment of Filipino workers abroad.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas even expressed confidence the government will reach this year’s target of one million overseas deployments despite the passport shortage. "It’s just a temporary setback and I don’t’ think it would affect overseas deployment," Sto. Tomas said.

Records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) show that an average of 2,500 overseas Filipino workers leave the country each day to work abroad.

But Sto. Tomas said she saw no need to take up the matter with Guingona because she was confident the foreign office would be able to address the issue on its own. – Marichu Villanueva, Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin