MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed an administrative order institutionalizing electronic travel declaration system eTravel, Malacañang announced on Saturday, August 31.
“The eTravel (Electronic Travel Information) system is hereby institutionalized as the government’s one-stop electronic travel declaration system for all international inbound and outbound passengers and crew members,” reads Administrative Order 24, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin for the President on August 27.
The Philippine government formalized the system to so that it can efficiently conduct border control, health surveillance, tourism statistics analysis, and other travel-related procedures.
AO 24 mandates a technical working group (TWG) to study and adopt necessary measures to improve the system, as well as its usage, management, and operation, subject to existing laws and policies.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology and Bureau of Immigration (BI) will co-chair the TWG with the Department of Tourism, Department for Migrant Workers, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Quarantine, and Bureau of Customs as members.
The budget for implementation will come from the respective budgets of each of the involved agencies.
“Thereafter, the funding requirements necessary for the continued implementation of this Order shall be included in the budget proposals of said agencies, subject to the usual budget preparation process,” the order read.
Marcos ordered the agencies to fully cooperate in the implementation of AO 24, and to ensure compliance with the Data Privacy Act.
The eTravel system was launched amid the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2022 particularly for digital contact tracing.
The government has since generalized its usage to make arrival and departure documentation digital. In May 2023, the BI phased out paper-based departure cards, and directed the public to use eTravel.
At present, all inbound and outgoing passengers from the Philippines, whether Filipino or foreign, have been required to fill up the eTravel forms on the eTravel website before proceeding to immigration. – Rappler.com