MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently announced that the renewal of the Philippine passport for a one to two-year extension will be free of charge (gratis) if processed within this year.
“One needs only to follow the original schedule for renewal… Submit your application for renewal together with the request for extension.
Same day processing and free of charge,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said in a Manila Bulletin report.
This free service came after reports of the DFA’s passport issuance backlog.
“There have been unexpected delays and these are attributed to technical difficulties in view of the preparations for the transfer of the facilities from the current Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) site to its new location in Batangas,” DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said in the same report.
The department then vowed to address to the delays and correct them within this month.