Consulate-on-Wheels rolls into Colorado

Consul Reichel Quiñones leads dual citizenship applicants in swearing an oath of allegiance to the Philippines. The oath is the final step towards reacquiring their Philippine citizenship. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

COLORADO SPRINGS—A team from the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco drove 24 hours across four states to offer consular services to Filipinos in Colorado, under the Consulate’s annual Consulate-on-Wheels/Wings (COW) Program.

The outreach, which spanned two cities, took four days to complete, with the team working October 11-12 in Aurora, then proceeding directly to Colorado Springs to extend services there October 13-14.

The seven-person team, headed by Consul Reichel Quiñones, extended consular services to over 500 people, processing 306 passport applications, 96 notarial documents and civil registry reports, and 82 applications for reacquisition of Philippine citizenship.

Filipinos in Colorado thanked the COW program, which significantly reduced the processing time and cost for availing themselves of consular services from the main consular office in San Francisco. The average cost of a typical round-trip ticket from Denver to San Francisco is $450.

The consular team in turn thanked the Philippine-American Society of Colorado (PASCO) and the Filipino American Community of Southern Colorado (FACSC), which spearheaded coordination efforts for the outreach.

Through the close coordination of both organizations, the Consulate has been able to conduct regular annual outreaches to Colorado to attend to the consular needs of Filipinos living and working in the surrounding areas.

Ruby Ioapo, president of the Filipino-American Community of Southern Colorado (FACSC), likewise expressed the community’s appreciation for the Consulate’s COW program. “We would like to thank you for your tireless service to the community here,” she said, as she presented the outreach team with a certificate of appreciation from FACSC.

“Not only do we get to avail ourselves of consular services in our own neighborhood, we are able to consult your team on questions regarding government services and procedures in the Philippines. We hope you will be able to continue this service to the community in Colorado.”

The Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, through its COW Program, conducts regular annual outreaches to various locations in the ten states under its jurisdiction: Alaska, Northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Northern Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.