The Philippine embassy in Riyadh will start distributing the new machine-readable passports for Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia by May 31, embassy officials said Sunday. Sources said the Philippine consulate general in Jeddah has also received the new passport called MRP but has withheld an announcement as it is studying the processing procedures. The new passport will contain vital information about its holder that can be read by the passport machine reader at the airports, they said, adding that it is difficult to counterfeit. “Tamper proof,” said Ambassador Antonio Villamor. ‘That is one of the features of the MRP. Any tampering can easily be detected.” The issuance of the new passport will come in stages because there are only two computers that will process the issuance, said the embassy. (See full story on Page 10) __
