Authorities are now developing an online platform where people could secure a copy of documents needed for domestic travel to areas with strict travel protocols, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield said on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the JTF COVID Shield, said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is taking the lead in the further developing the online platform, dubbed as the Safe, Swift, and Smart Passage, or S-PaSS.
The S-PaSS was developed by Director Rowen Gelonga, of the DoST Region VI. It is a travel management system primarily intended to make a hassle-free journey for locally stranded individuals (LSIs), returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), emergency travelers (ETs), and other travelers during this pandemic.
He said those who would access it would be informed of the travel protocols of local government units (LGUs) and secure to a copy of a Travel Authority (TA) and a Travel Pass-through Permit (TPP).
Travel Authority is needed by non-APOR (Authorized Persons Outside Residence) that include the LSIs, to reach an LGU with strict travel protocols. TPP, on the other hand, is needed if the non-APOR would go to an LGU with unrestricted travel protocol but have to pass through LGUs with strict travel protocols.
Eleazar said the S-PaSS would make it easier for the public to comply with the travel requirements especially that some LGUs have decided to continue implementing travel restriction protocols amid the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Once ironed out, TAs and TPPs could be secured through an online platform, which means applicants would no longer need to go to police stations to apply for these travel documents.
“Health experts said that we will have to live with the COVID-19 for a long time, which means that the requirement for Travel Authority or a Travel Pass-through Permit would be inevitable depending on the situations in the LGU-destinations,” said Eleazar.
“Securing these travel documents through an online platform would be fast and comfortable for our kababayan, and would be in support of the decision of the national government, through the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID), to ease the travel restrictions as part of the effort to revive our economy,” he added.
Once made available, Eleazar said non-APORs, including LSIs, could apply for TA or TPP by filling out forms required by the online platform. As soon as the travel details are completed, the applicants could print the document and save in their gadgets for presentation to the policemen manning the border control checkpoints.
For TAs, Eleazar said the applicant will still have to obtain a Medical Clearance Certificate from the City or Municipal Health Office. The moment an application for TA is made from the LGU of origin, it will already inform the LGU destination of the arrival of the non-APORs, including LSIs. This will serve as a prior coordination between the LGU of origin and the LGU destination and eventually became the basis of the feedback to the applicant.
For TPP, he said there are no other documents required.
A TPP is no longer required if the traveler has a TA.
For people included in the APOR list and whose travels are work-related or are health and family emergencies, Eleazar said that valid identification cards, Certificate of Employment, and proof that the travel is for an emergency would do.
He said both APORs and non-APORs are no longer required to produce any travel document if their LGU destination and all the LGUs they would pass through are implementing unrestricted travel protocols.
Eleazar, however, said that while the IATF has already eased travel restrictions, the LGUs which would not require a TA, are still given the authority to implement health safety protocols both for APORs and non-APORs, that include triage and quarantine procedures.