MANILA, Philippines — MULING inihain ngayon sa Senado ni Senador Lito Lapid na gawing habambuhuay ang validity ng passport ng mga senior citizen.
Sinabi ni Lapid na kailangan ito ng mga senior citizens dahil karamihan sa mga ito ay mahihina na.
"'Yung mga senior citizen natin, karamihan diyan ay ‘di na makalakad, ‘di na makakita, malabo na ang mata. Kaya, pwede na sigurong pagbigyan," giit ni Lapid na nagpanukala ng Senate Bill No. 1197.
Taong 2019 nang unang inihain ng senador ang kaparehong panukalang batas.
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Ngunit agad naman itong kinontra ng Department of Foreign Affairs o DFA dahil hindi ito akma sa 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,” ang paliwanag ni DFA Office of Consular Affairs Executive Director Alnee Gamble.
Paliwanag ni Gamble, isang ahensiya ng United Nations o UN ang ICAO na siyang naglalatag ng specifications para sa mga ini-isyu ng isang “machine readable travel document”, kagaya ng pasaporte ng Pilipinas.
Imbes umanong makatulong, baka lalo pa itong maka-perwisyo sa mga senior citizen.
“The issue there is the passport will become non-compliant, because it does not conform with the ICAO standards, and our senior citizens will have a problem when they cross borders," dagdag pa ni Gamble.
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Hindi naman sang-ayon si Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III sa panukala ni Lapid. Sa halip umano na gawing lifetime ang validity ng passport ng mga senior citizens, minungkahi ni Pimentel na gawing libre na lang ang renewal ng passport.
Para naman kay Senador Francis Tolento, mas maganda aniya na gawan ng paraan para mabawasan ang mga kailangang asikasuhin ng mga senior citizens sa kanilang passports.
“Perhaps, a method can be devised without violating our existing agreements, by just perhaps stamping or revalidating, in so far the 5 to 10 years requirement is concerned... We give respect and honor to our senior citizens by not burdening them administratively,” ang naging pahayag ni Tolentino.
“in the short life span that they would have here on earth.. to outrightly suggest that what the good senator has done would be violative of the existing international regulations, is unfair,” dagdag pa ng senador.
Kontra naman si Senador Pia Cayetano na gawing libre ang passport processing sa mga senior citizens.
"At 60 years old, so many of these people are quite young and probably travel 20 times a year, have the liberty of traveling and spending money. I don't see the point of making it free.. I have reservations for making it free just because they are of a certain age," paliwanag ni Cayetano.
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