The Department of Foreign Affairs reported that since increasing its efforts in February to go after fixers and scam artists that sell passport application appointments, around 1,000 pages and user accounts have been taken down.
DFA has even warned users who were found to be selling the appointment slots for a price that
engaging in these fraudulent practices is punishable by law. In addition, violators will be penalized, prosecuted, and barred from applying or renewing their
passports.
The agency has asked the public to avoid transacting with these fixers and to report any posts selling passport appointment slots. Screenshots or links to fraudulent parties can be provided.
All appointments should be coursed through http://passport.gov.ph and any transaction that will not go through the website is not legal.
An entrapment ops was done earlier this year which resulted to the arrest of 20 individuals linked to selling passport appointment schedules.
Department of Foreign Affairs Intensifies Efforts to Accommodate Passport-Related Appointments
The DFA has implemented several actions to address the ongoing backlog in passport-related
transactions. The electronic payment (ePayment) system cuts down the processing time and prevents fixers from selling appointment slots to applicants while utilizing the same amount of DFA manpower to process passport-related transactions. As a rule, the applicant’s confirmed schedule is non-transferable.
Thousands of passport-related appointment slots have also been opened for scheduling in all of the Department of Foreign Affairs offices across the country.
This year, the agency also introduced the Passport on Wheels program, with vehicles going to offices, hospitals, subdivisions, and schools nationwide to serve the applying public. Cities, municipalities, and government offices were also visited by the POW team as part of this initiative.
To date, the agency has accommodated more than 138,000 applicants since January through this project.