The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) advised the public on July 8 to temporarily refrain from using GCash for their payments when securing an appointment from its online passport appointment system website, following numerous reports of error prompts/ double-charging/ unconfirmed appointments from applicants who used the GCash payment facility while securing their appointments.
Based on the advice received from Paymaya, the payment gateway for all passport appointments online, the reported issues occured as some transactions which have already been declined by Paymaya were still approved by GCash. Thus, applicants’ GCash accounts were still debited even if they did not receive appointment confirmations.
The DFA, through its Office of Consular Affairs, assured the public that it is closely coordinating with Paymaya as they resolve the issue with GCash. (DFA) – jlo