The Department of Foreign Affairs 6 said it will process machine-readable passports applications starting the last week of January.

DFA regional consular officer Victor Española said four additional machines are expected to arrive by next week at their office in Iloilo City .

The DFA 6 can only process around 160 applications with their single machine at present, he said.

But with the additional machines, Española said they will be able to accommodate 300 applications a day.

The machine is used to produce computer-generated forms and for encoding of required data from the applicant. The new MRP is complete with security features, which makes it tamper-proof.

Española said the shift to MRP is in compliance with the requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization that passports must be machine-readable by 2010.

MOBILE PASSPORTING

Meanwhile, Española said the DFA 6 has temporarily suspended its mobile passporting program until its operations are back to normal.

He said they have been receiving requests from Negros Occidental, Antique and Capiz but could not still act on them because of limited logistics due to adjustments they have to make with the processing of MRPs.

Española said the DFA 6 will resume mobile passporting service in February, or announce the date later.*

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