DFA: New travel agency guidelines on passport application not meant to 'discriminate'


The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the decision to remove accreditation requirements for travel agencies offering passport services to the public does not discriminate against the travel agency but is intended to benefit the public.

 
The decision is a part of a range of measures meant to improve the delivery of consular services, the DFA said in a news release posted on its website on Sunday.
 
DFA Undersecretary for Administration Rafael Serguis said, “We would like to make it clear that the directive we issued in May as well as the latest guidelines allowing accredited travel agencies to transact with us only until the end of the year are not intended to drive travel agencies out of business.” 
 
Serguis pointed out that the decision simply gives more options to the public and does not hinder travel agencies’ operations.
 
“In fact, the guidelines do not prevent travel agencies from assisting those who are willing and have the means to avail themselves of the services they offer,” he said.
 
The guidelines are intended to allow ordinary passport applicants to enjoy the same special treatment travel agency clients enjoy but at no extra cost to them,” he added.

Special privileges for travel agencies
 
Seguis noted that travel agencies had the privilege to accept and pre-process, and even file passport applications for their clients until the electronic passport was introduced.
 
While travel agency-assisted applicants pay anywhere from P1,800 to P7,000 for these privileges, Seguis said the DFA only collects the following from 551 accredited travel agencies:
  • P1,200 for expedited processing, and
  • P500 accreditation annual fee from each travel agency.

 
"Unfortunately, unlike travel agency clients who can breeze through the application process, ordinary applicants have to come to our offices as early as midnight and wait in line for hours before they could be served," Seguis said.
 
"We strongly felt there was a need to correct this situation as it is inconsistent with the steps that we have been taking to improve the delivery of our consular services, such as the transfer of our offices to better facilities inside shopping malls, that we hope would finally eliminate the long lines that have been associated with the passport application process," he added.
 
Finding creative ways
 
Meanwhile, DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario rejected proposals to charge applicants the P500 fee collected from travel agencies to generate revenues for the projects of the DFA.
 
According to Serguis, the proposal could have generated as much as P1.2 billion.
 
However, Del Rosario "made it clear from the start that we should find creative ways to improve the way we deliver our consular services without having to place this burden on the applying public,” Seguis said.
 
Seguis added that the DFA saved the national government as much as P1.14 billion in operating costs in the next 10 years because of the transfer of its consular offices to shopping malls under Public-Private Partnership arrangements.
 
Serguis then concluded that it was the DFA’s job to make the lives of Filipinos easier.
"While we appreciate the assistance that travel agencies extend to the applying public, it is the responsibility of the DFA, not our friends in the travel industry, to make the passport application process faster and more convenient to our people at no additional expense on their part," he said.

The malls where the new offices will be erected are:
  • Robinsons Galleria
  • Robinsons Lipa
  • Robinsons Bacolod
  • Robinsons Dumaguete
  • Robinsons General Santos
  • SM Megamall
  • SM Manila
  • SM Baguio
  • SM Davao
  • Pacific Mall Legazpi, and
  • Metro Gaisano Alabang.
 
Tthe DFA is also accepting passport applications in mall-offices with extended hours from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Mondays to Saturdays.
 
During Sundays there will be a half-day schedule for the releasing of passports.
 
Call centers will also be operational before the end of the year where applicants may call in advance to schedule their application appointments.

Serguis said that this move was to improve delivery of consular services in the hope that they could “finally eliminate the long lines that have been associated with the passport application process.” - VVP, GMA News

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