The Department of Foreign Affairs has been aware of certain cases where the cover of Philippine passports have detached or otherwise been damaged.

The DFA and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, who manufactures the actual passport booklets, are well aware of this issue and have been taking steps to address the incidents involving detached covers and pages of the of the new Philippine ePassport. The DFA and BSP wish to assure the public that these are random and isolated cases.

To rectify the situation, which has been observed when the ePassports were initially issued in 2009, the BSP Production Unit has been applying spine reinforcement tape, which secures the stitching of the eCovers to the inside pages of the ePassport, thus making it difficult to detach them unless deliberate acts are made to remove them.

The DFA is advising all ePassport holders with detached ePassports to proceed immediately to the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv for replacement.

For your guidance.

SGD.

GENEROSO D. G. CALONGE

Ambassador