Sen. Lito Lapid is once again pushing for the lifelong validity of senior citizens’ passports.
At the virtual hearing on Thursday of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations chaired by Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Lapid stressed that senior citizens need it, especially since most of them are already weak.
“‘Yung mga senior citizen natin, karamihan diyan ay ‘di na makalakad, ‘di na makakita, malabo na ang mata. Kaya, pwede na sigurong pagbigyan,” Lapid insisted in the proposed Senate Bill No. 1197.
The senator also filed the same bill in 2019.
But if the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is asked, it is said to be difficult to do because it does not comply with international standards.
“Our position is that the grant of the lifetime passport validity will not be compliant with the [International Civil Aviation Organization’s] specifications,” explained DFA Office of Consular Affairs Executive Director Alnee Gamble.
Gamble added that ICAO is a United Nations agency that lays out specifications for the issuance of a “machine readable travel document,” such as a Philippine passport.
Lapid pushes for lifetime validity of senior citizens’ passport
Instead of helping, he said, it may further make the situation difficult for senior citizens.
“The issue there is the passport will become non-compliant, because it does not conform with the ICAO standards, and our senior citizens will have a problem when they cross borders,” she insisted.
Sen. Francis Tolentino is not satisfied with this. He said, maybe this can be done as a way to reduce the need to take care of senior citizens.
“Perhaps, a method can be devised without violating our existing agreements, by just perhaps stamping or revalidating, in so far the 5 to 10 years requirement is concerned… We give respect and honor to our senior citizens by not burdening them administratively,” he said.
“in the short life span that they would have here on earth.. to outrightly suggest that what the good senator has done would be violative of the existing international regulations, is unfair,” the senator added.
But according to the DFA, the ICAO rule still needs to be followed.
If the lifetime validity does not work, Pimentel suggested that passport renewal be made free.