The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has already talked to the Statistical Center of the University of the Philippines (UP) to conduct a study on the projected demand for passports over a 10-year period.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Frank Cimafranca said that the study will be able to help them identify funding requirements and come up with plans regarding the expansion of DFA’s consular offices, reported ABS-CBN.
“I met with the statistical experts from UP because I want them to really make a study, projections, scientific study talaga,” he said in an interview.
Cimafranca said that the consular offices’ lack of capability to process large demand for passport is one of the main reasons why booking a passport appointment is difficult.
Today, DFA currently has 27 consular offices all over the Philippines.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano previously said in a statement that they plan on establishing eight additional offices and four mobile passport processing units to solve this problem.
The DFA currently processes 9,000 passports per day, which is less than 3,000 of the daily demand for passport.
The said study that will be conducted by experts from the UP School of Statistics is expected to be finished by March this year.
