Cayetano says travel firms can't have their passport appointment slots back


By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday thumbed down the request of travel agencies to return to them the 1,200 daily slots for passport appointment.
"I'm sorry, we cannot do that because, by law, nakalagay po kung sino ang ipa-prioritize namin," Cayetano said during the launch of the passport appointment portal for first-time OFWs at the DFA Aseana Consular Office in Parañaque City.
"Kasi kung bibigyan natin ng slots ang travel agencies, ang mangyayari, kung mas madaling kumuha sa kanila, para bang kailangan mong bumili ng ticket. Paano kung online mo gustong bumili ng ticket?" he added.
The DFA has come under fire from passport applicants because of difficulties in getting appointment through its online facilities. Its Facebook page has been flooded with complaints from people unable to get appointments earlier than March.
Cayetano had earlier denied that travel agencies are in cahoots with erring DFA personnel in the reported selling of passport appointment slots. On Friday, he said these reports are not the reason why they could not give the allotted slots back to the agencies.
"We never said it's the fault of the travel agencies, nagtatrabaho lang sila," he said.
He added, "Pasensya na po kayo, pero kung kayo ang bibigyan ng allotment, maraming manghihingi ng allotment, babalik na naman tayo sa dati na maraming manghihingi ng exceptions, napakaraming bintang na dito may bayad, dito wala, etc."
An alternative offer the DFA can make to travel agencies is to send its passport application and processing services to their offices during their travel or "piso" fairs to expedite the passport application of their clients.
"Give us a list of your travel fairs, and kahit a day before and during the travel fairs, maglalagay kami ng mga makina dun, maglalagay kami ng passport on wheel," Cayetano said. "At least, walang obligasyon y'ung kumukuha ng passport na bumili ng ticket o gumamit ng serbisyo."
He added that the DFA has a lot to do to make the passport application process smoother for Filipinos without compromising their security or exposing them to identity theft, human trafficking, and terrorism.
"Trabaho kasi nung officers ng DFA na siguraduhin na Pilipino ka talaga at ikaw talaga 'yung kumukuha ng passport," Cayetano said. "We should make no excuses and point to no one but ourselves to make this process easier." —KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more