Marcos institutionalizes eTravel system

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has institutionalized the use of the electronic travel (eTravel) system for international inbound and outbound passengers and airline crewmembers for efficient travel procedures in the country.

“The eTravel system is hereby institutionalized as the government’s one-stop electronic travel declaration system,” Marcos said in issuing Administrative Order (AO) 24.

According to the President, eTravel shall be used to efficiently conduct border control, health surveillance, tourism statistics analysis and other travel related procedures.

The President has created a technical working group (TWG) “to study and, as may be necessary, adopt measures” that will further improve the eTravel system, including its usage, management and operation, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations.

The TWG will be composed of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as chair, Bureau of Immigration (BI) as co-chair and the following as members: Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“All relevant departments, agencies, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities shall provide full support to and cooperate with the TWG to ensure effective implementation of this order,” the President said.

The funding for the implementation of the order shall be charged against current and available appropriations of the DICT, BI, DOT, DMW, DOTr, BOQ and BOC. Thereafter, funding requirements for the continued implementation of the order shall be included in the budget proposals of said agencies.

AO 24 was signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Aug. 27 and takes effect immediately upon publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.

On Dec. 5, 2022, the DICT, BI, DOT, BOQ and BOC launched a unified and integrated digital data collection platform known as the eTravel system to streamline various travel declaration procedures for international inbound passengers.

The system was expanded on April 15, 2023 to cover departing travelers and crewmembers.