DFA Intensifies Passport on Wheels with Four Additional Vans
04 May 2018 - The Department of Foreign Affairs intensifies its campaign to bring passport and other consular services to distant cities and towns with the arrival of four (4) additional vans.
The vans, arriving on 4 May, shall be rolled out starting 18 May after testing of equipment and training of personnel. This brings to eight (8) the total number of vans for Passport on Wheels program designed to meet the increasing demand for passport applications.
"DFA will continue to exert all efforts to make passport services accessible to our people wherever they are in the country," Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano stated.
The Passport on Wheels, launched last 15 January this year, has been to 82 cities, municipalities, offices and organizations. It has rolled out not only to the northern provinces of Luzon like Ilocos Norte, but even down south to Mindanao with services provided to the residents of Davao City.
From 15 January to 30 April, Passport on Wheels has served a total of 94,422 passport applicants.
Each van is equipped with five (5) Data Capturing Machines that can process 500 applications. With the additional units, the number of passport applications that can be accommodated daily is increased by 4,000. By June, DFA is looking to add two (2) megavans which can hold more Data Capturing Machines and further increase DFA’s capacity to process passport applications.
Aside from Passport on Wheels, the DFA is implementing various programs to improve its passport services. The Department is scheduled to open a consular office in Ilocos Norte on May 8 and another in Isabela on May 15. These two(2) are in addition to the recently opened Consular Office in Tacloban. Another six (6) Consular Offices will be opened in different regions in the coming months.
The programs also include rendition of Saturday work in DFA Aseana, increasing daily capacity of all consular offices, expanding the courtesy lanes to sectors who need them most, and crackdown on fixers and scammers. END
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano (center), Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto C. Abella (right), and Presidential Communication Operations Office Undersecretary George Apacible (left), Assistant Secretary Frank R. Cimafranca (2nd from right) and Chairman of APO Michael J. Dalumpines lead the turnover of four new Passport on Wheels vans at the DFA Home Office on 04 May 2018