Did you know that the Philippine Department of Foreign affairs recently decided to adopt PH (or PHL) as the official acronym of the Republic of the Philippines, instead of the ‘RP’ moniker?

The DFA Secretary issued an order last October 20 directing all Philippine embassies and consulate offices around the world to drop the ‘RP’ tag and use ‘PH’, or ‘PHL’, instead.

This directive finally makes us ‘standards compliant’ with regards to the country code standard defined by the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO.

This is a welcome change although it might take a while for most people to get used to. (In sports, try to imagine cheering for our Filipino athletes/contingent while shouting “Go Team PH!” or “Go PH Team!”, instead of the usual “Go RP Team!”)

But…. come to think of it, on a broader scale, you’ll probably notice that the ‘RP’ tag isn’t used much anyway — particularly in the internet. If you take a look at social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — or even in daily email correspondence — people actually do tend to use ‘PH’ more. You’ll see “PH-time”, “PHP”, and in its most obvious form — in internet domain names, where we use .ph, instead of .rp as a top level domain name.

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Reference Sites:
GMANews.tv: Philippine diplomats will now use PH or PHL instead of RP
Philstar.com: DFA junks ‘RP’ for ‘PH’ or ‘PHL’

The Philippine department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has implemented a new passport processing system. Philippine passport applications and appointments must now be done online via the official DFA passport application website at http://www.passport.com.ph.

Please note the following:

• The DFA will not entertain applicants without valid appointments.
• Please note that if you place multiple appointments, your previous appointments will be automatically canceled.
• All Saturday Appointments is for rush processing only
• Applicants with 7:00AM or 7:30AM appointment may go to the DFA for their passport application from 8:00AM onwards on their appointment date.
• Passport pictures shall also be taken at the DFA premises.