Passport renewal stuck in DFA bureaucratic maze

Mary Ann Cajucom came all the way from Negros Occidental to bring out her problem regarding the unexplained delay in the renewal of her  passport in Bacolod City.

Mary Ann had returned from work in Kuwait and was applying again to work overseas. She needed a valid passport  to show  to the agency she was applying at.

She said she applied for the renewal of her passport in Department of Foreign Affairs-Bacolod as early as November 2013.   She followed up her passport weekly, she said,  but was always told that it had not yet been issued.

Bantay OCW lent her a hand and sought the assistance of the office of Assistant Secretary Wilfredo Santos of DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs in Manila.  It was discovered that Mary Ann had also applied for renewal in Kuwait, and this application was still pending, apparently causing some sort of bureaucratic logjam.

DFA-Manila sent an advisory to cancel Mary Ann’s renewal application in Kuwait.  Soon enough,  DFA-Bacolod called Mary Ann to inform her that she could claim her new passport.

In this age of digital communication, it is sad to think that Mary Ann still needed to spend thousands of pesos to go to Manila just to appeal this kind of problem.

This is just a simple problem of coordination!

If her case was just given due attention, our OFW would not have spent so much time, money and effort just to get her  passport renewed.  She could have been abroad working and already earning money.

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Susan Andes, also known as Susan K., can be heard over Inquirer Radio dzIQ 990 AM, Monday to Friday, 10:30 am-12:00 noon. Audio/video live streaming is at www.ustream.tv/channel/dziq.  Helpline: 0927-6499870. E-mail: [email protected]/ [email protected]