Filipinos with expiring passport can extend its validity by one year for free according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The free validity extension of brown and green passports was offered because the DFA could not rapidly mass produce new ePassports which is more secure and tamper-proof. The DFA facing a deluge of applications for the new passport and renewal of old passports. The heavy demand already caused a backlog in production that applicants had to wait three months to get their ePassport. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas prints the biometric passport. Applicants are advised to apply 12 weeks ahead of their overseas travel due to long time it takes for the DFA produce  ePassports.

(The International Filipino, May 2011)