JEDDAH/MANILA — A shortage of passports at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila has affected the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, the embassy announced yesterday.

In a press statement yesterday, the embassy said the problem is being addressed and 1,200 additional passports are expected from Manila on March 23 or 24.

But news reports from Manila said the shortage is serious and unless the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas could rush the DFA’s orders, supply may last only till the end of May.

Radio reports said the lines for passports at the DFA is getting longer, yet fewer passports could be issued.

Radio DZBB quoted department spokesman Victoriano Lecaros as saying the DFA orders about 800,000 passports each year but there was a sudden surge in applications since late last year and the demand could not be met.

“We failed to anticipate this surge in demand for passports,” he said, noting that last year’s supply lasted only till November.

It was then that the DFA asked the BSP to deliver in advance its orders for the year 2002. The department also ordered the printing of 1.2 million more booklets but the BSP reportedly could not deliver on time.

There were reports that the BSP printing press in Quezon City was under repair.

But BSP governor Rafael Buenaventura told radio stations that only the DFA is to blame for “miscalculating” its requirements.

He said the DFA’s additional orders were made only in January and it’s not that easy to print passport booklets, which are made of security paper that has to be imported.

Buenaventura said what makes the process longer is that the central bank is required by law to first bid out the paper to various suppliers before it could begin printing.

According to the Philippine Embassy statement, the DFA had to reduce the number of passports being issued to each overseas mission as a result of the shortage.

The statement said the embassy issues an average of over 500 passports a week in Riyadh, plus about 300 in its regular outreach program in the Eastern Province.

It noted that demand for passports surges in November and December and during February and March, when most OFWs schedule their travel home during the Christmas holidays or toward the end of the schoolyear in March.