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HOUSE OF REPRE

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by RECEIVED
pate 02 AUG 2016
Republic of the Philippines TIME: ED)
House of Representatives BY:

Queson City, Metro Manila

STPAITION UNIT
Seventeenth Congress ND INDEX SERVICE

First Regular Session

2296

House Bill No.

Introduced by HON. ROMEO M. ACOP-

EXPLANATORY NOTE

A Philippine passport is both a travel document and a primary
national identity document issued to citizens of the Philippines since there is
no national identity card system in the Philippines as yet. It is issued by
the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Philippine diplomatic
missions abroad, with certain exceptions.

As of August 2015, the DFA is facing a backlog of 42,230 passports
due to technical glitches and an out-dated production system. The figure is
alarming considering that the DFA receives a total of 12,000 passport
applications a day. Instead of the normal 15 to 20 days processing time, it
often comes to a point where several passports have been released after 3
months. The delays are attributed to old printing machines that have not
been upgraded since they were installed in 2009, the year the Philippine
electronic passports were introduced. Under the existing system, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) prints the passports while a private contractor
provides maintenance and repair under an agreement with the BSP.

In response, the DFA offers free extension of expired passports for a
period of not less than one year but not more than two years upon request


while their new passports are being processed. This is of course a palliative
measure.

Republic Act No. 8239, otherwise known as the ‘Philippine Passport
Act’, established the guidelines for the application, issuance and / or renewal
of passports. Under Section 10 of the law, regular passports issued shall be
valid for a period of five (5) years, subject to a limitation of a period of
validity less than 5 years whenever the national economic interest or
political stability of the country so requires.

This bill aims to amend Republic Act No. 8239 to extend the period of
validity of regular Philippine passports from five (5) years to ten (10) years.
Extending the passports’ validity will, in effect, lessen the frequency and
volume of applications for renewal and will contribute in reducing, if not
eliminating, the backlogs in both application and release of passports. It will
also ease the long queues of applicants that have caused so much
inconvenience and costs to the people.

Moreover, an extended period of validity of passports will reduce the
cost of application and renewal in favor of our citizens in the long-run, while
the government can relatively offset its potential revenue loss through
reasonable increases in the fees for acquiring the document as provided for
in the law.

This proposal also takes into consideration the fact that many
developed nations in the world, such as the United States, the United
Kingdom and Australia, have already adopted the 10-year validity period for
their respective passports.

For the foregoing reasons, the immediate consideration and approval
of this bill is earnestly urged.

—
HON. ROMEQ M. ACOP
Representative

2"™ District, Antipolo City


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Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Queson City, Metro Manila

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

2239€

Introduced by HON. ROMEO M. ACOP

AN ACT
EXTENDING THE PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF PHILIPPINE PASSPORT
FROM FIVE (5) YEARS TO TEN (10) YEARS, AMENDING FOR THE
PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8239, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE
“PHILIPPINE PASSPORT ACT OF 1996’

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Republic of the Philippines in Congress assembled :

SECTION 1. Section 10 of Republic Act No. 8239, otherwise known as the
‘Philippine Passport Act of 1996’, is hereby amended to read as follows :

Section 10. Validity. - Regular passports issued under this Act shall be
valid for a period of five-{5)} TEN (10) years: Provided, however, That the
issuing authority may limit the period of validity to less than £five-{5}t TEN
(10) years; whenever in the national economic interest or political stability
of the country such restriction is necessary: Provided, finally, That a new
passport may be issued to replace one which validity has expired, the old
passport being returned to the holder after cancellation.


SECTION 2. Implementing Rules and Regulations - The Secretary of
Foreign Affairs, shall, within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act,
promulgate the rules and regulations necessary for the effective
implementation of this Act.

SECTION 3. Repealing Clause. - All existing laws, orders, decrees, rules
and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 4. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days
from its publication in at least two (2) national newspapers of general
circulation.

Approved.