Section 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:
Ambassadors refers to those who have been appointed as Chiefs of Mission and are currently serving as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary;
Biographic data refers to an individual's full name, birthdate, birthplace, and sex as recorded in the Certificate of Live Birth, Report of Birth, Certificate of Marriage, Report of Marriage, or Certificate of Foundling;
Biometric data refers to front facing photograph, fingerprint, iris scan, and/or such other identifiable features of an individual;
Consular offices (CO) refers to field offices or any offsite of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Office of Consular Affairs located in the Philippines where passporting and consular services are provided;
Consular Official refers to a DFA official assigned to the Office of Consular Affairs, DFA Consular Offices in the Philippines or Foreign Service Posts, who is responsible for providing passport and other consular services;
Consular Services refers to services relating to the exercise of consular functions enumerated under Article 5 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations;
Convention on International Civil Aviation or Chicago Conventionrefers to the Convention which sets out certain principles and arrangements for the development of international civil aviation and establishment of international air transport services. It was signed in Chicago in 1944 and entered into force in 1947;
Emergency Travel Document refers to a document issued by the Philippine Government to travelers in emergency situations where it is not possible to issue a regular passport;
Foundling refers to a deserted or abandoned child or infant with unknown facts of birth and parentage. This includes a person who has been duly registered as a foundling during his or her infancy or childhood but has reached the age of majority without benefitting from adoption procedures, as provided in Republic Act No. 11767, or the "Foundling Recognition and Protection Act";
Fugitives from Justice refer to those who flee under the following circumstances: (1) After conviction by a Philippine court to avoid prosecution;
Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) refer to embassies, missions, consulates general, and other foreign service establishments maintained by the DFA;
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) refers to the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that manages the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation or the Chicago Convention, of which the Philippines became a party in 1947;
Issuing Authority refers to the DFA Office of Consular Affairs, DFA Consular Offices in the Philippines, or the Philippine FSPs overseas which issue passports and provide other consular services;
Legal Guardians refers to persons exercising parental authority, either by operation of law or by order of the court, over minors or persons above eighteen (18) years of age but who are unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition;
Machine Readable Travel Document refers to a travel document conforming with the specifications contained in ICAO Document 9303;
Passport refers to the ICAO-complaint machine readable travel document issued by the Philippine Government which contains a request to other governments to permit its bearer to pass safely and freely, and to provide all lawful aid and protection, if needed;
Passport Personalization refers to the process by which the biometric data, bibliographic data, and the signature are applied to the passport;
Passporting Services refer to services relating to the processing, encoding, transmissions, personalization, and releasing of passports, including online service services; and all other related functions and capacities;
Recognized Alien Residents refer to aliens who are permanent residents of the Philippines, or who are stateless persons or refugees, as recognized by the Philippine Government;
Refugee refers to a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country, or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it, and is officially given refugee status by the Philippine Government;
Stateless Person refers to a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law; and
Travel Document refers to an official document issued by the Philippine Government and is used by the holder for international travel.