More than 30 percent of the pending passport applications, which had errors in the data submitted, have been processed and up for printing, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said over the weekend.
"The processing of passport applications with errors in the name and date of birth accepted between July and September 2021 are being sped up, the department said late Saturday, Oct. 16.
It was disclosed that 31.5 percent of the total 20,133 pending applications from July to September 2021 "have been processed and transmitted for printing as of Oct. 15." This translates to 6,351 processed applications.
The department added that 68.5 percent more passport applications remain pending. These are applications that have errors in the name and date of birth fields.
Applicants were advised to check the status of their passports first before proceeding to the releasing site using the passport tracking system or pending applications tracker.
The Foreign Affairs department said last Oct. 12 that slots for the remaining dates in October until December are not yet open but are expected to be available in the coming days.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said they are expecting to complete the correcting of errors this October 2021.
Dulay also reminded the public that “appointment slots are free and can only be secured via passport.gov.ph.”
Applicants were also told to ensure that they encode the proper name and birthdates while filing out their application form to avoid further inconveniences.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Senen Mangalile disclosed in September that they received a staggering number of 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.