DFA: Passport services soon at PHL malls

Filipinos planning to go abroad can soon apply for passports at malls, as the Department of Foreign Affairs will soon transfer its regional consular offices to such establishments. The DFA said moving the consular offices to shopping malls will not only improve the delivery of passport services, but save the government some P250 million in the next 10 years. "With this move, the DFA is taking a big leap forward as it can now more effectively deliver consular services to the public in modern, more applicant-friendly settings at very little cost to the government," DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said. Del Rosario said the DFA expects to begin transferring the first of nine regional and extension offices to mall operators covered by Private-Public Partnership program arrangements before the end of 2011. Initially, Del Rosario said the DFA has signed agreements with Gokongwei-owned Robinsons Land Corp. and the Gaisano-owned Pacific Mall Corp. Under the agreement, the Gaisano and Robinson malls will host an initial six of 18 DFA regional consular and extension offices and two new regional offices. He said the arrangements will help the government realize savings of more than P25 million annually in rent and other operating expenses. Del Rosario said negotiations are also ongoing with other mall developers to host the remaining regional consular offices, and the opening of new passport extension offices in Metro Manila. Last Thursday, the DFA entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Robinsons Land for the transfer and long-term hosting of the regional consular office (RCO) in Pampanga, the biggest and busiest among DFA offices nationwide, to a P23-million facility at the Robinsons Starmalls in San Fernando. The agreement with Robinsons Land also covers the RCOs in Bacolod, Batangas, General Santos, Iloilo, and Tacloban and the extension office at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration in Quezon City. It also includes arrangements for the hosting of new consular offices in Laoag and Dumaguete. Earlier, the DFA entered into similar arrangements with Pacific Mall Corporation for the transfer and hosting of the RCO in Cebu. The P13.5-million facility at the fourth level of the Pacific Mall in Mandaue City is expected to start operations in December. "When we open our doors starting in December, the applying public can look forward not only to world-class facilities but also to world-class services that we in the DFA constantly strive to deliver," del Rosario said. He added the new RCOs in Cebu and Pampanga will be a far cry from existing DFA consular facilities in other parts of the country "and are guaranteed to be something that the Filipino passport applicant will be proud of." He particularly noted the Pampanga and Cebu passport facilities will be at par with the main passport processing facility at the Office of Consular Affairs Building along Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque. The DFA also maintains passport processing offices in Baguio, La Union, Tuguegarao, Clark Field, Lucena, Puerto Princesa, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Zamboanga and Cotabato. Serving as many as 10,000 persons daily, the DFA's regional offices have so far generated P568.5 million in income this year, compared to P954.6 million recorded in 2010. — LBG, GMA News