New passports to be available in Hong Kong
by Marsha Espiritu
This is the new address of Philippine Consulate General here in Hong Kong, the same building but moved to 14th floor. As of this moment, the latest news is that DFA has formally turned down a proposal to move the Consulate offices from their present site at United Centre Building in Admiralty to Guangdong Finance Building in Sheung Wan.  News: by Daisy C.L. Mandap (Editor, The Sun) If things go according to plan, Filipinos in Hong Kong should now be able to apply for the new machine readable passport (MRP) at the Consulate. Department of Foreign Affairs assistant secretary Domingo D. Lucenario, Jr. was due to arrive in HK on Aug. 28 to brief Consulate staff on the features and mechanics involved in issuing the new passport, and applications for securing one were to be opened the next day. However, these dates has not been confirmed. In an interview with The Sun earlier, Lucenario said Hong Kong was chosen as the pilot testing site for Filipinos abroad because it is near Manila. But he said the plan is to make the MRP available in all of the DFA's regional offices and overseas posts by October. The new Philippine passport which has enhanced security features, was unveiled only last June 18 in Manila by the DFA, and is currently issued only to OFWs, the elderly and those applying for renewal. New applicants across the country will have to wait until Sept. 17 to acquire it. In Manila, the passports are issued within five to 10 days after application, while in HK, the process is expected to last up to two weeks. This is because the passports are issued only in Manila still, and will have to be shipped to HK by diplomatic pouch. "We can actually speed up the process a bit more but I don't want to stretch it at this stage," said Lucenario. In the Philippines as in HK, all applicants are now required to make a personal appearance so that their fingerprints may be taken. The fingerprints are then forwarded and stored at the DFA's biometric database. Also, applicants' pictures must have a royal blue background, instead of white. The maroon-covered passport will have 44 pages, instead of the previous 32 for the regular document, but will cost as before: Php500 in the Philippines, and $425 in Hong Kong. The MRP is equipped with unique security features to combat fraud, identity-theft and counterfeiting. The photo of the applicant is scanned, not pasted, and the bearer's personal details are computerized and no longer handwritten. Its main security feature is the hologram laminate featuring a barcode and the personal details of the bearer that are visible only with the aid of a specific decoding lens. The passport is also bound with a thicker security thread to prevent easy tampering and alteration. Lucenario said the MRP will be a precursor to the more secure e-passports that will have an embedded chip containing the holders' biometric information, and could be available by the middle of next year. But he said the MRP already meets the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization, which has set an April 2010 deadline for compliance. Hope this news will be of help to our fellow kababayans.
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