To the Filipino Community in Fujian and Jiangxi Province:

The Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen would like to inform the public that the Philippine Government has withdrawn the practice of stamping "Not Valid for Travel to Iraq" in the "Mga Pagtatakda-Limitations" page (page 3) of regular Philippine electronic passports.  Hence, all regular passports issued after 27 June 2011 will no longer contain this limitation.

Furthermore, the Philippine passports currently in circulation will retain all validity, except for the stamp, which will be considered voided.

However, please be informed that the Philippine government's policy of labor deployment ban to Iraq is still in effect.

Current passport holders are advised to disregard the existing stamp.  Those who wish to have the stamp removed may apply for a new Philippine passport without the stamped notation.

The Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen has officially informed the relevant Chinese government agencies to continue honoring Philippine passports currently in circulation while disregarding the validity of said stamp, and, in the case of new passports issued without the stamp, recognize that this has been purposely withdrawn.

28 July 2011