A Facebook user advised the people online to check every page of their new passport, claiming his passport bears wrong pagination. He said the got the misprinted pages caused him to be held at an airport.
Carlos Canlas, a theater actor, posted photos of pages of his passport with erroneous page numbers earlier this month before the Department of Foreign Affairs issued him a new one.
Pages of his passport are not labeled consecutively.
“For those getting or renewing their passports, double-check all the details and the pages of your passports before traveling abroad,” Canlas said in a Facebook post on April 1.
He recalled that he was surprised when the immigration officer pointed out the error.
“When I received my passport, all the important details like my name, birth date etc, are correct so I didn’t bother checking all the pages. Who checks their passport ba page per page?” he said.
In a followup post, he said his aim in sharing about the misprint was to spread awareness rather than to provoke complaints.
“My latest post regarding the pagination error of my passport is for me not to attack the government or anyone. It was clearly stated there that it’s more of an ‘awareness’ for everyone to know, just so you guys can avoid any problem or delay on your scheduled trip and travel abroad,” he said.
The immigration officer initially ordered him to return the passport to the Department of Foreign Affairs and get a new one.
“Hindi ako pumayag. I insisted and fought that it wasn’t my fault. and boarding na at that time… and ayaw ko maiwan sa flight kasi may connecting flight kami,” he said.
“The immigration officer let me sign the Risk Awareness Form na hindi sila responsible kung hindi man ako papasukin sa HK at US kasi dun ang destination namin,” he added.
When he returned from the trip, Canlas immediately went to the DFA to get a new passport.
He shared that the personnel there initially planned to charge him for the replacement but he insisted that it was their fault in the first place.
“Imagine mo yung mga taong hindi marunong lumaban sa rights nila? Malamang gagaguhin lang sila,” he said.
The incident raised concerns among other Filipino Facebook users who note that appointment slots for passport application and renewal are quite costly.
The usual rate to confirm a slot at the DFA Consular Office is P950 for regular processing and P1,200 for expedited processing.
There’s an additional fee of P50 should the applicants decide to apply via its online facility.
Neither the foreign affairs department nor immigration agencies issued a formal statement to address the misprinting issue.