2008-05-29
PRESS RELEASE NO. ABM-08/08
The Philippine Consulate General in Toronto wishes to inform the public that it is preparing to process machine-readable passports beginning June this year.
Most countries in the world use machine-readable passports (MRPs), a requirement under the regulation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which the Philippines is a member.
The new, maroon colored passport will replace the green passport, which is manually scripted. The new passport contains a “machine readable zone” containing the personal data of the passport holder that can be read by a machine or a computer. It will contain security features such as: watermarked paper, color UV fibers, UV reactive inks, ultra thin laminates resistant to forgery and chemical, thermal and mechanical attacks, letter screen containing variable information and holograms, among others, to make it more secure.
The photograph required of the passport applicant should be taken against a Royal Blue background instead of a white background.
Since a MRP has a machine readable zone that can be read by a machine or computer, the processing of travelers at the ports of entry and exit is faster automatically in the database of immigration offices. this means greater convenience and security for the traveler. And since an MRP is harder to fake or tamper, it is expected to reduce processing time of immigration and border officials of other countries.
The ICAO conventions require that all member states have fully compliant machine-readable passports by April 1, 2010.
The Philippine Consulate hopes to commence processing applications for the MRP by June 2008
Toronto, 28 May 2008