10 March 2011, Tel Aviv, State of Israel – The Philippine Embassy today appealed for the understanding of the Filipino Community in Israel as it announced that the delay in passport releases could last a few more weeks as a result of technical concerns and the surge in the demand for the ePassport.

"We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delays, especially to our overseas Filipino workers, but we would like to assure the public that we are exerting our best efforts to resolve the issues as soon as possible," Philippine Ambassador to the State of Israel Petronila Garcia said.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila is working hard to ensure that those with urgent travel, especially overseas workers, are accommodated," Ambassador Garcia said. "We would like to request those without immediate travel plans to defer their applications until the situation has normalized."

Ambassador Garcia said the delay in passport releases is primarily the result of maintenance work and upgrades on equipment in the ePassport Personalization Center at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) facility in Quezon City. This, she said, also coincided with the seasonal increase in passport applications as Filipinos start making preparations to travel abroad this summer.

Ambassador Garcia further said that the DFA has been working closely with the BSP to resolve the issue and that it is confident that it would be able to reduce the waiting period in the coming weeks.

At present, applicants would have to wait an additional 10 working days before their passports could be released.

The delays, which started in February, have affected primarily applicants in the 19 Regional Consular Offices nationwide and Foreign Service posts abroad.

– END –