(Image grabbed from Rapidpassph's Facebook page)
MANILA – Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña expressed delight with the growing number of registrations for the RapidPass, a system that the DOST co-developed to allow front-liners or authorized persons outside residence (APOR) to pass checkpoints by simply having their quick response (QR) codes scanned.
Data shared to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday showed that as of May 1, there are 298,917 individuals who have registered for the RapidPass.
Of the number, 221,182 were approved, while 43,044 were declined.
As of May 1, there were 34,610 pending applications, while 81 applications were suspended.
The RapidPass system was rolled out in the National Capital Region last April 9.
Dela Peña told PNA that the registration, which started last April 6, is still open.
"For as long as they are in the APOR (Authorized Persons Outside of Residence) categories, and they have the approval of the government agency in-charge of that category, (they could register)," he said.
The challenge, he said, is when they receive big volumes of applications at the same time.
However, he said this causes a minor delay in the approval process.
Earlier in a virtual presser, dela Peña reiterated that RapidPass is the DOST's contribution to help the Philippine National Police lessen contacts at the checkpoints.
The DOST helped in the conceptualization and field testing of this project.
The system was co-developed with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, Armed Forces of the Philippines, PNP, and DEVCON Community of Technology eXperts (DCTx), a non-profit digital solutions developer.
Front-liners who would like to register may simply type RapidPass.ph on their mobile phones, and submit pertinent information.
Once their application is verified and approved, they will receive a QR code, which they can either print or save on their device. (PNA)
