Digitally eased travels

It was a refreshing arrival experience at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Passenger Terminal 3. From the usual hour or so of being processed before a traveler gets out of the NAIA-3, it now takes about 30 minutes. That is, if a traveler is compliant with Immigration and Customs rules and regulations and has their official required documents. Or, it might be related to lower volume of arriving passengers at that time?

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

We arrived at 4 o'clock in the afternoon from Stockholm, Sweden. Our flight back to Manila was a bit delayed. The pilot informed us that our plane was told by the NAIA tower to hold the descent and maintain the flight pattern for ten minutes. Other than that, we were pleasantly surprised by the speedy manner we got out of the NAIA.

Actually, methinks half of the credit should go to the government's digitalization program. In particular, to eGovPH.

Through the e-GovPH, Filipinos can do online the e-travel registration for both Immigration and Customs declaration even 72 hours before departure and arrival.

With just a mobile phone in hand, one can access already not just the e-travel but also the websites of national government agencies, local government units and even tourism sites. While I have yet to get my National ID card more than a year after I applied for it, it popped up in my eGovPH along with my senior citizen ID.

The problem or challenge in digital transactions, however, still remains. It largely depends on the strength of the signal of one's WiFi connection. And at times, human error is still another source of frustration when one is digitally challenged.

When we arrived last Monday, we were so happy to see no lines at the Immigration area. What greeted us were rows of e-gates. I was so excited to try the e-gate. To play it safe, I asked my travel companion Isabel de Leon, my counterpart at the Manila Bulletin, to go ahead of me so I can watch how to go through the e-gate.