16 June 2016 - In commemoration of the 118th Anniversary of Philippine Independence day, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – Regional Consular Office (RCO) in Dumaguete offered its applicants the opportunity to celebrate the occasion in a modest flag ceremony at the outset of its daily operations on June 10.
Central to its program was the singing of Lupang Hinirang, pledge to the country (Panatang Makabayan) and the reading of the messages of President Benigno S. Aquino III and Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Rene D. Alemendras. Wrapping up the event, RCO Dumaguete personnel enjoined the applicants to sing “Bayan Ko” with them and “Tagumpay Nating Lahat” as a tribute to the country and to resonate the vision and aspirations of the current administration.
RCO Dumaguete is a lean team of 10 DFA personnel and three encoders outsourced from DBP with an average monthly transaction of 1,722 for the last seven months since it started its operations in October 2015. RCO Dumaguete has increasingly been catering to applicants from Zamboanga del Norte notably from Dipolog and Dapitan as well as from Siquijor and Southern Cebu (Santander, Oslob, Buljoon, Liloan) and Bohol in addition to Negros Oriental. RCO Dumaguete’s jurisdiction encompasses a total of approximately four million Filipinos. As of 2015 Negros Oriental OFWs accounted for 6.3% of the total 2.4 million OFWs based on Philippine Statistics Authority figures. END
