New passports passed international standards - DFA

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday declared that the new machine-readable passports (MRPs) being issued by the department are tamper-resistant and complies with international standards.

In a press statement, the DFA said the MRPs are fully compliant with the standards and requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The DFA said that the MRP's features are specifically designed to discourage tampering and improve the integrity of the passport system.

The agency also said that tampered or forged passports will be rejected at airports, ports of entries of foreign countries.

The MRPs' security features include the following:

o watermarked paper and colored fibers,

o ultraviolet (UV) - reactive inks,

o a combination of security prints, such as fine lines with modulation, guilloche design, art screen and dash effects and microtext,

o laser-perforated alpha-numeric serial numbers,

o security laminates that are ultra thin with strong adhesion to prevent chemical, thermal or mechanical forgery,

o high-level origination and high image definition,

o high security animated and color switch optical imaging, and

o nano imaging.

The DFA said all relevant Philippine government agencies particularly the Bureau of Immigration, as well as all governments of other countries, have been fully apprised of the features of the new Philippine passport and are thus able to detect forgeries and discrepancies which is highly prejudicial to Filipinos using forged/fake passports.

It said immigration officers are equipped with special tools for ascertaining the genuineness of passports.

It said the new MRP system includes the development and maintenance of a secure passport database to aid in rooting out identity theft and raising the integrity of the country's passport system.

It said since the launch of the new MRPs in June last year, the DFA has not had any verified case of fraud successfully foisted against the Philippine MRP.- GMANews.TV

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