Beginning today, July 5, 2021, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will officially open five locations for the Temporary Offsite Passport Service (TOPS) to respond to the shortage of available passport application schedules exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Philippine passports...
Much ado about vaccine passports, even if they aren’t quite new. In the pilgrimage town of Pandharpur in Bombay, India, shortly after a vaccine for plague was developed in 1897, authorities required proof of vaccination as a condition of entry for the pilgrims who would flock to Pandharpur every...
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday warned the public anew against social media advertisements offering passport appointment slots in exchange for a fee following mounting complaints of difficulty in securing online passport application schedules due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus...
Senator Joel Villanueva on Tuesday urged the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the Department of Health (DOH) to clear the issue about a confusing policy requiring fully vaccinated Filipinos and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to produce proof of vaccination. During a Senate Committee of the...
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has cautioned the public against the reported existence of passport appointment and document authentication scams on social media. (DFA) In an advisory, the DFA stressed that it does not use Facebook or any other social media network to offer or confirm...
A vaccine passport may just be the Filipinos' ticket to a return to normal life. Workers wait for their vaccination inside SM Manila cinema that has been converted into a COVID-19 vaccination site on June 8, 2021. (Ali Vicoy/ Manila Bulletin) The government has started working on the issuance of...
DICT (DICT / MANILA BULLETIN) The government is set to discuss the guidelines for the planned issuance of vaccine passports for Filipinos that are already vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said....
Which vaccines work best for which variants? Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana As the Philippines surpasses five million vaccine doses administered, the rate of vaccination continues to accelerate and there is real progress in rolling back the pandemic. Countries that have vaccinated a significant...
All passport applications can be made only through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), not through any company or person using social media accounts. Department of Foreign Affairs (Manila Bulletin) The foreign affairs department issued the latest advisory to the public in the wake of concerns...
