How to find out if you have a damaged passport

MANILA - How do you know if you have a damaged passport?

According to Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Fred Santos, a damaged passport would include one that has a ripped cover, detached pages or has gone through a washing machine.

Putting a passport in your pocket is also a no-no.

"If it becomes crumpled inside your pocket, that is considered mutilated," he said in an interview on ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda.

Santos said the new e-passports have spine reinforcement tape at the covers. He said that of the 10 million e-passports issued since 2010, only 528 have had their covers come loose.

He said a passenger using a damaged passport is disallowed from travel and may be rejected by the destination country.

The issue of damaged passports has garnered attention after a 12-year-old boy scheduled for operation in Vietnam was offloaded by Cebu Pacific because he had a damaged passport.

Santos said the boy was issued a temporary passport after they received a complaint from the DFA Action Center.

ABS-CBN UMAGANG KAY GANDA, March 18, 2014