MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will open 100,000 slots in its passport appointment system on Thursday, June 14, said Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.

In a press conference, Cayetano said the DFA will open 50,000 slots at noon and 50,000 more slots at 9 pm on Thursday.

Cayetano added that after this, the DFA will open 10,000 slots from Monday to Saturday, except holidays such as June 15. He said that on these days, the DFA will open 5,000 slots at noon and 5,000 more at 9 pm.

Cayetano announced this in a press conference to launch the DFA’s ePayment Portal.

In the press conference, he also explained that there is often a shortage in passport appointment slots because of high demand. (READ: LIST: 63 countries where Filipinos can travel visa-free)

The DFA later said it released the first half of the 100,000 passport appointment slots at 12:12 pm on Thursday.

A check on the passport appointment website, however, showed that there were no more passport appointment slots in Metro Manila as of 2:50 pm.

There were no more slots, too, in other parts of the country, except for Baguio and Lucena. In these places, there were passport appointment slots past 2:50 pm, but these slots quickly disappeared. (READ: DFA eyes online passport renewal – via selfies – by 2019) – Rappler.com