MANILA, Philippines — Applicants will no longer have to wait for at least a month to obtain their passports, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said a shortened period for the release of passports was implemented beginning on Monday.
“We made a promise to the President and to the people that we will work hard to give them fast and efficient passport services,” Cayetano said in a statement.
From 15 to 20 working days, the DFA said its consular offices in Metro Manila would be able to release the passports to those who pay the regular processing fee of P950 after 12 working days.
Express processing for those who pay P1,200 will be shortened from seven to six working days.
Cayetano said the DFA is also working on reducing the waiting time for passport applications filed at Philippine embassies and consulates worldwide.
Aside from reducing the processing time for passport applications, Cayetano said the DFA has shortened the waiting time of applicants in securing online appointment slots from at least three months to as early as two weeks to one month.
He said this was the result of reforms the DFA initiated last year, including e-payment and the opening of at least 10,000 passport slots every day.
“From the 9,500 passports that were being processed daily in May last year, we have increased our capacity to almost 20,000 passports a day. We hope to increase this to 30,000 by the end of the year,” Cayetano said.