Passports Renew Philippine passport

My wife's passport was due to expire in June so in May she tried to book an appointment for renewal - the earliest available appointment was mid-August, which she attended. All done in less than 20 minutes with pick-up 2 weeks later. In theory the whole exercise could be done online with pick-up acting as proof/validation (In & out in 5 mins). I get the feeling it's the bureaucrats justifying their existence and slowing the whole process down.