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At long last and after decades of planning, court
actions and personnel issues, the country has its first-ever
machine-readable passport (MRP). Before this, we were among the few
countries left in the world which produced our travel documents
manually. This was one cause why passports took more time than
needed to be issued—the DFA staff had to beautifully write or
script in your personal details. Check your passport. Our old
passports were easier to tamper resulting in suspicions and detailed
examinations when we travel abroad. Who hasn’t had the jitters
each time we face an immigration counter in a foreign land and get
barked at by the immigration officer even if our passports are valid
and genuine and our trip regular and aboveboard?
The idea of the MRP is basically
very simple. With the widespread use of ATM cards, credit cards and
all other forms of smart cards, it was time to have a passport that
harnessed technology for efficiency, convenience and security. There
is a Department of Foreign Affairs facility right at the heart of
the Philippine International Convention Center that produces
passports that are globally acceptable and credible. Other countries
were already threatening not to recognize our passports. Imagine the
consequences for our hardworking OFWs and trotting matronas.
The man mainly responsible is
Assistant Secretary Doy Lucenario, officially confirmed recently
as an ambassador. He managed to win over doubters and packaged the
whole passport system at virtually no cost to the government and the
taxpayer. At P500 each, our passport is one of the cheapest, if not
the cheapest, anywhere in the world. This will surely benefit
millions of our countrymen. Doy had to secure a legal opinion from
the Department of Justice, work with the central bank for the
procurement of the security paper and face several suppliers
competing for the project. It was his single-minded focus building
on the efforts of his predecessors that finally made the project a
reality.
Do we have to wait until expiry
to renew and get the new passport? No, you can choose to renew
earlier to take advantage of the enhanced features. In fact, we are
encouraged to test our new passports and start feeling secure as
Filipino travelers.
With the new passports security
features, forgers and fakes will shift their focus more to the
source documents that provide the data in the passport application.
Already the National Statistics Office is undergoing its
computerization campaign to vertically integrate its processes with
the downstream offices and agencies. The birth certificate remains
to be the key document in this regard, absent a national id system.
Regardless, we deserve this good
news after a spate of scandals. Bad publicity always makes the
headlines while the unsung tales of ordinary deeds and doing our
jobs never see the light of day. We need to continue to dig up
dedicated men and women in government to appreciate the magnitude
and the difficulty of running the government. Pretty soon when we
all get used to the ease and look of the new passport, we forget how
we got to this point in the first place—the personal sacrifices
made and the working hours endured. For too long we have not dared
to venture to be bold and to undertake big things that will
revolutionize how we operate our country and how we think as a
people.
In the meantime, we have the
confidence to protect the integrity of our travel document and
regain the respectability of this document which represents the
national dignity and image of the Philippines regardless of racial
slurs and discrimination. Next stop—the e-passport. Watch for it.
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