Senator Lito Lapid is proposing a bill that will grant lifetime validity of passports for senior citizens.
Lapid said that there is a need to give them this leeway since most of the elderly population can no longer process their passport for renewal.
“‘Yung mga senior citizen natin, karamihan diyan ay ‘di na makalakad, ‘di na makakita, malabo na ang mata. Kaya, pwede na sigurong pagbigyan,” Lapid said.
Lapid has filed the same bill in 2019.
For the Department of Foreign Affairs, however, it will be difficult to pass this legislation since this is not in accordance with current 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,” the DFA said.
ICAO is a United Nations organization that sets specifications and standards on machine-readable travel documents which include passports.
