SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Because of consistently long queues each time a mobile passport processing team is in town, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is now committed in putting up a permanent consular office here to better serve residents of the Subic Bay area and nearby parts of Central Luzon.
According to DFA Assistant Secretary Neil Frank Ferrer, the planned consular office in Subic will not only provide services for passport applicants, but will also undertake document authentication, assistance to nationals, and delayed registration of birth, marriage or death for Filipinos abroad.
“It will be a complete service, like a mini-DFA,” Ferrer said during the agency’s passport processing project that was held last Friday at the Harbor Point Ayala Mall in partnership with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
“This is our commitment—to bring our services closer to the public, closer to you people. We will not be just an ad-hoc passporting on wheels,” Ferrer said.
“Our intention is to put up a permanent presence here,” added Ferrer, who reportedly visited Subic to coordinate the passporting project and to look for a possible location for an office.
The huge number of passport applicants who queue for processing every time the DFA’s passport-on-wheels team arrived in Subic has also impelled SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma to request the DFA to conduct passport processing here at least twice a year.
In January last year, Eisma also requested for the provision of full consular services at the Subic Bay Freeport.
DFA officials said the request is likely to be granted, as the DFA has already established 34 consular offices across the country.
Recently, it opened seven new consular offices in Malolos, Bulacan; Ilocos Norte; Isabela; San Pablo, Laguna; Antipolo, Rizal; Tagum City, Davao del Norte; and Clarin, Misamis Occidental, Ferrer said.
SBMA deputy administrator for administration Ruel John T. Kabigting, who welcomed the DFA group during the passport processing project, said that he has been receiving positive feedback on passport processing events here.
“Applying for a passport in Subic became very convenient for the people because there is no need for them to travel to the regional office or to Manila. And they are thankful for this project,” Kabigting said.
According to the SBMA technical working group for corporate social responsibility, which helps organize the mobile passport processing project here, a total of 818 passport applications were processed here during the recent project in Subic.