A viral post on X (formerly Twitter) is claiming that the Philippine passport climbed two spots in a recent passport ranking because of the 10-year validity period implemented during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency.
However, Filipinos were quick to debunk this claim, explaining that passport power does not rely on its validity.
In a tweet on January 13, staunch Duterte supporter Ryan Lingo said the Philippines’ improved standing on global passport ranking happened because of the 10-year validity period.
“Ito ang totoong gawa hindi lang salita. Tatak Duterte kasi,” he said.
In a 2024 report released by consultancy firm Henley & Partners, the Philippine passport ranked 73rd among the world’s most powerful passports, from 75th in 2023.
Other X users were quick to fact-check Lingo, noting that the Henley Passport Index ranks passports based on the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
The firm uses data from the International Air Transportation Authority, covering 227 travel destinations and 199 passports.
X user with the handle @JediNursePH responded to Lingo’s tweet, providing a three-tier method used in determining the rank of a passport:
- Mobility score, which includes visa-free (VF), visa on arrival (VOA), electronic travel authorization (eTA), and eVisa if issued within three days
- VF portion of passports’ score vs. the VOA
- United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index 2018, which is used as a tie-breaker. The UNDP HDI measures a country’s perception abroad.
Another X user, @CoachBeens, pointed out that even if the validity period of a passport is 47 years, or whoever gets to lengthen the validity, these are not the bases of passport ranking.
“Sure ako di mo binasa ‘yang artice. The Philippines achieved its highest record from 2007 to 2009 (62nd) and received its lowest ranking (83rd) in 2021,” X user, @xsw8rhen said.
X user, @porfiridon15, noted that passport power lies on the international standing of the issuing country.
“And ang pag-angat sa ranking is not due to economic improvement but maybe due to other nations’ erratic status that put them to lower notch,” he commented.
The highest passport ranking achieved by the Philippines was during the time of President Benigno Aquino III and the lowest ranking was in 2021, under the Duterte administration.
Henley’s methodology
According to the ranking’s methodology, a score with value = 1 is created for a passport if for each travel destination, there is no visa required for passport holders from a country or territory.
This score is also applied if passport holders can get a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an eTA when entering a destination.
“These visa-types require no pre-departure government approval, because of the specific visa-waiver programs in place,” the methodology read.
Meanwhile, when passport holders need a visa before departure, a score with value = 0 is given. This score is also assigned if passport holders need pre-departure government approval for a VOA, a scenario not considered “visa-free.”
Strongest and weakest passports
The recent Henley ranking shows that France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain are the world’s strongest passports, having visa-free access to 194 destinations.
These are followed by Finland, South Korea, and Sweden, whose passport holders do not need visas to 194 destinations.
The weakest passport is held by Afghanistan, which only has visa-free access to 28 destinations.
This is followed by Syria at 103rd (29 destinations, Iraq at 102nd (31 destinations, Pakistan at 101st (34 destinations), and Yemen at 100th (35 destinations).