DFA sees queues for passport getting shorter

ANGELES CITY—Passport applicants need not wait in line for too long because by December, a call center accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs will begin receiving requests for schedules to process their applications in consular offices in Metro Manila and the regions, Foreign  Secretary Albert del Rosario said here on Monday.

Del Rosario announced the latest effort of the DFA in improving the passport application process during the blessing of the agency’s consular office at Marquee, a shopping mall here.

The call center project came after Del Rosario approved in June a new set of guidelines to improve DFA’s services. “With this, we hope to finally be able to deal with the long lines that have become synonymous with the passport application process,” he said.

The 811-square meter consular office at Marquee is the third mall-based passport processing facility in the country. The DFA had opened the first two at the Pacific Mall in Cebu and at Robinsons Starmills in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga.

Del Rosario said 11 more passport offices would be opened this year and 16 more by 2014 to make the services of the DFA more accessible to the public.

The DFA has projected savings worth P1.14 billion in operations costs in 10 years from this public-private partnership (PPP) with Pacific Mall Corp., Robinsons Land Corp., Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings, he said.

“It’s a win-win situation for the mall developers and ourselves and for those who need the services that we provide,” Del Rosario said.

The consular offices in malls are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Saturday. These are open also on Sunday afternoons for applicants claiming their passports.

This form of PPP has earned for the DFA, particularly Consul Elmer Cato, the Gawad Mabini from President Aquino last week. Cato headed the special projects team.  Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon