DFA releases passports to 636 applicants

By: Gideon C. Corgue

PAGADIAN CITY, April 26 (PIA) –- Some 636 residents from the city and its neighboring provinces and cities on Friday received their passports from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and city government personnel during the passport releasing held at the Executive Function Hall. 

Engr. Joseph Isaias M. Quipot VI, personnel employment service office (PESO) manager said the passports, which the applicants have filed on March 14 was finally released on April 25 after more than a month of wait. 

The passport processing was done during the 75th founding anniversary celebration of the City of Pagadian. 

Quipot said the passport processing is one of the regular programs being implemented by the city government under the administration of Mayor Samuel Co and is designed to help the residents who could not afford to file their passports in the DFA regional consular offices in the cities of Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro due to financial constraints. 

Quipot said passport processing has been implemented annually by the city government with the coordination of the regional consular office in Zamboanga City but because it has no available machine, the processing was temporarily stopped for more than a year saying that the machine used is very sensitive and the consular office in Zamboanga has no available machine. 

To continue the program, Quipot said the chief executive has been scrambling to solve the problem and invited Manila consular office to come since it is their office who has the capacity to conduct mobile passport processing. 

Quipot said a total of 3,000 passport applicants have availed the mobile passport services of DFA and city government since it was implemented during the term of the chief executive. 

City government employee, Elvis Nodado said he was happy that he availed his passport from the mobile services saying that he did not spend money and time in going to the regional consular offices. 

“I am happy that I have availed the passport mobile service because I did not spend time, money and effort in going to Zamboanga or Cagayan de Oro,” Nodado said. “This passport will be used in my future foreign travel,” he added. 

Nodado said applicants have not encountered difficulties in obtaining passports because aside from the P1,200 passport processing fee, only the barangay and police clearances were being asked by the DFA personnel, he added.