President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed Administrative Order 24, institutionalizing the government's one-stop electronic travel declaration system in a bid to efficiently conduct border control and health surveillance.

“The eTravel (Electronic Travel Information) system is hereby institutionalized as the government's one-stop electronic travel declaration system for all international inbound and outbound passengers and crew members,” the three-page AO stated.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed the AO on August 27. It will take effect immediately upon publication in the Official Gazette, or in a newspaper of general circulation.

The AO 24 stated the eTravel “shall be used by the government to efficiently conduct border control, health surveillance, tourism statistics analysis, and other travel related procedures.”

Under the AO, a Technical Working Group (TWG) on eTravel System will be created to study and adopt measures, as maybe necessary, that will further improve the system, including its usage, management, and operation, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations.

The TWG shall be chaired by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and co-chaired by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) with the Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Department of Transportation, Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as members.

Marcos ordered all relevant departments, agencies, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities to provide full support to, and cooperation with the TWG to ensure effective implementation of the order.

The President also instructed the TWG and all relevant departments, agencies, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities to ensure compliance with Republic Act (RA) No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act.

The funding requirements for the implementation of AO No. 24 shall be charged against current and available appropriations of DICT, BI, DOT, DMW, DOTr, BOQ, and BOC, subject to pertinent budgeting, accounting, and auditing laws, rules and regulations.

"Thereafter, the funding requirements necessary for the continued implementation of this Order shall be included in the budget proposals of said agencies, subject to the usual budget preparation process," the order read.

The DICT, BI, DOT, BOQ, and BOC launched the eTravel System or the unified and integrated digital data collection platform in December 2022 to streamline various travel declaration procedures for international inbound passengers.

The system was expanded in April 2023 to cover all international inbound and outbound passengers and crew members arriving to and departing from the Philippines. Presidential News Desk