Passport appointment slots for the remaining dates in October until December are not yet open but are expected to be available in the coming days, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday, Oct. 12.
"Hintayin lamang po ang muling pagbubukas ng appointment slots sa mga darating na araw (Please wait for the opening of appointment slots in the coming days)," the DFA said in an advisory, referring to the appointment slots for October, November, and December this year.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay reiterated that they are now correcting the errors encoded by applicants on their online application forms.
"Inaasahan po namin matapos ito ngayong Oktubre 2021. Simula noong Sept. 20th, kelangan na po kumuha ng panibagong appointment ang may errors/correction sa application form (We are expecting to complete it this October 2021. Starting Sept. 20, applicants, who have errors on their application form, need to secure a new appointment)," Dulay said in his post on Twitter on Oct. 12.
Dulay also reminded the public that "appointment slots are free and can only be secure via passport.gov.ph."
The public was also told to ensure that they will not make errors in encoding their name and birthdates while filing out their application form to avoid further inconveniences.
The DFA official also reiterated that it will take them 60 days to fix the errors on the suspended passport applications they are now handling.
He also advised applicants to refrain from going to DFA offices unless they have already received a call or email from the agency.
"Makakatanggap po kayo ng tawag o email mula sa amin kapag available na ang inyong passport. Huwag po munang pumunta sa DFA offices habang walang tawag o email na natatanggap upang hindi masayang ang inyong oras (You will receive a call or email from us once your passport is available. Don't go to DFA offices while there is no call or email so as not to waste your time)," the DFA said.
On Monday, Oct. 11, passport applicants hoping to fix errors in their forms trooped to the DFA head office, falling in a long queue that stoked apprehension that it could be a virus super spreader.
Applicants arrived at the DFA office in Paranaque City as early as 2 a.m. in order to be included in the 100-applicant limit set by the DFA per day.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Senen Mangalile disclosed in September that they received a staggering over 26,000 passport applications with errors in the names and dates of birth of applicants.
Mangalile then said that affected applicants will have to seek another online schedule, “which does not come easy nowadays” due to the limited number of staff tasked to correct the errors.
This prompted the agency to open additional temporary offsite passport services (TOPS) facilities in Metro Manila and the provinces in order to increase the passport appointment slots available to the public.