P1,900 for passport renewal is a burden

INSTEAD of a new passport, the Department of Foreign Affairs - tion as follows:

“This is to certify that based on the records of an unclaimed passport at DFA Manila, the following data for Philippine Passport

What followed were my name, date and place of birth, date and place of issue of passport, which was DFA Manila.

In closing, Ricarte B. Abeljuela 3rd, acting passport division director, wrote:

legal purposes it may serve.”

- partment of Foreign Affairs,” which was translated to “Kagawaran ng Ugnayang Panlabas.”

What happened to the renewal of my passport? I think I better go back to the DFA another day soon. Did I waste my half-day visit to the DFA - tion when I needed a new passport? I don’t think so. The DFA personnel who assisted me were only following the procedures for passport renewal. My only problem with that so far is that I need to return to the DFA be served again. I was told, though, not to worry because being a senior citizen, I would be in DFA’s priority

Questions

Still, should the time come that I need to have a new passport, I That would be paying for it twice, paying that much if that is really should the DFA rush into canceling a passport that is still valid for the

How did the DFA arrive at a decision to issue Department Order No. cancel passports that remain “unclaimed after six months from date of issuance?” What happened to a

- der if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also cancels the and existing stock corporations and partnerships.

I hope not. Otherwise, who would invest in this country? It would be better for businesses to operate “underground” instead of legalizing their operations.

Luckily for the DFA, I am not in - tion of my new passport. I am also not applying for a new one despite

Why doesn’t the DFA just release it, anyway, even if it has lapsed by more than a year when I claimed it recently.

Similarly situated

because I may not be alone in this predicament. There may be others who are similarly situated and who, for lack of time, failed to pick up their passports within a “period of six months from date of issuance.”

argue that new and renewed passports that remain unclaimed by their owners within their regulatory

What a way of reasoning for government workers who are paid by the public to run the government

As I am made to understand, the DFA also runs its operations as funded by taxpayers’ money. Otherwise, how would it pay for the salaries of ambassadors? The department has many ambassadors and consuls on the “payroll of taxpayers.”

Despite the DFA’s use of the to justify their arbitrariness in canceling new and renewed passports.

Lesson

A lesson can be learned, though, from my experience in applying for a new passport that I did not really need urgently.

How would the DFA’s arbitrariness affect thousands of overseas Filipino workers whose passports are up for renewal? Would they - lets to pay immediately for either a new or a renewed passport? If they happen to be too poor to cover that expense, they would be forced to borrow from loan sharks who prey on the poor but who don’t pay taxes on their unreported taxable income?

necessarily addressed to Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano, who is our new DFA secretary. Rather, they are in of the need to resolve the issues mentioned above for the sake of the OFWs who contribute much to the government’s foreign exchange buffers.

The government recognizes OFWs as heroes because of their foreign reserves but only in public What are heroes for if they are only seen as such in press releases?

Which should prevail? The DFA’s validity? Just asking.