United States embassy in Manila. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Consular Affairs (DFA-OCA) has announced that it will be closed on August 20 and 21 in observance of the Eid’l Fitr and the Ninoy Aquino Day.
Malacañang, through the issuance of Proclamation No. 455, declared August 20, Monday, a non-working regular holiday in observance of Eid’l Fitr, or the Feast of Ramadan. Eid’l Fitr is celebrated by the Islamic world for three days after the end of the month-long fasting.
August 21, a Tuesday, is also a nonworking day as it has been legislated as a special holiday to mark the death of the President Benigno Aquino III’s father, slain Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.
In a statement, the DFA said that passport applications scheduled on the two days would be processed from August 22 to August 24.
“An on-call skeletal force will be assigned at the Passport Division including Courtesy Lane (CL) and Diplomatic and Official Passport Sections (DOPS) to attend to the people who might come to OCA for emergency consular assistance, including passport services (regular, diplomatic and official),” it said.
It said the office’s official operation would resume on August 22, Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the United States Embassy in Manila and its affiliated offices, in a separate announcement, said that it would also be closed on the said days.
It would also resume its operations on August 22.