Go through checkpoints much faster with RapidPass.ph

By: Danielle Tan

Going through quarantine checkpoints in the whole of Metro Manila is about to become easier for our frontline personnel and other people authorized to travel under the COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions all because of RapidPass.ph.  

Essentially, RapidPass.ph is a website developed by DevCon Philippines and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)  that provides a QR code that serves as an authorization for frontline personnel such as health workers, people delivering food and medicine and other essential supplies to go through checkpoints quickly and securely. The QR code can be printed on paper or saved on smartphones to be shown to uniformed personnel manning the Quarantine Control Points (QCPs). 

RapidPass.ph will be enabled by PLDT Inc’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications as they have provided the DOST with 540 smartphones equipped with voice, SMS and data packages. The mobile devices will be used by the Philippine National Police (PNP) at the QCPs to confirm the QR codes shown by the front liners, thus facilitating their movement. 

Moving forward, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) is thinking of using the RapidPass system for the entire country, even after the ECQ is lifted, either entirely or partially, as a way of helping the government control the movement of traffic even after restrictions are more lax to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.