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NTC allows telco sector to apply for 'RapidPass' system

By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz

April 28, 2020, 3:53 pm

<p>The RapidPass website. (Screenshot)</p>

The RapidPass website. (Screenshot)

MANILA – Workers in the telecommunications (telco) sector will soon be able to pass through checkpoints in the National Capital Region (NCR) with more ease after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) released guidelines for their bulk application into the RapidPass checkpoint system.

In a statement on Tuesday, the NTC issued Memorandum Order 06-04-2020 citing that services under the telco sector may enroll its essential and skeletal workforce for access through RapidPass checkpoints.

These include those working for public telecommunication entities, internet service providers (ISP), value-added service providers, cable television (TV) networks, other pay-TV services and their third-party contractors.

“These entities should apply for their essential and skeletal workforce through bulk application. Individual applications filed directly to the RapidPass website by individuals belonging to the covered entities will be denied,” the NTC said.

Bulk application may be accomplished, it said, through the submission of a spreadsheet containing employee data, a RapidPass form, and an Attestation form -- downloadable from https://dict.gov.ph/RapidPass -- and emailed to the NTC at [email protected].

After submission, it said that the forms will be verified by the NTC’s Regulation Branch or Broadcast Services Division for completeness, the listed personnel ensured to be appropriately considered as “allowed persons outside of residence,” after which the correct number of RapidPasses will be issued.

“Once approved, the RapidPass forms shall be uploaded to the Rapid Pass System for processing and RapidPass QR Code generation,” the NTC said.

The memorandum, it said, came after the issuance of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases-Technical Working Group for the RapidPass System (IATF-TWG-RPS) of guidelines for the implementation of the RapidPass system.

“With RapidPass, we hope to fast-track movement and access of telco and ISP personnel so that they may continue to do their duties, especially in ensuring unhampered services to the Filipino people,” Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said.

The checkpoint system, launched in early April, employs QR codes and control numbers as checkpoint passes and was conceptualized by the government to speed up the checking of identities of front-liners and authorized personnel, and to lessen person-to-person contact at designated checkpoints. (PNA)

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