DFA opens multi-million consular office

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday opened its new multi-million consular and passport services building along Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City.

In a release posted on the agency’s web site, DFA officials held a blessing for the new office of its Office of Consular Affairs (OCA), a 7,000-square-meter, four-storey building.

The building is currently on lease to the DFA by its owner, Development Bank of the Philippines, for P530 million.

Consular clients will now have the comfort of waiting their turn while seated on ergonomically-designed, stainless steel benches, the DFA said. Instead of long queues, clients can shorten their wait by accessing the DFA's online appointment system and would to move from ground to second floor only for their consular applications.



The facade of the new Department of Foreign Affairs building along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City awaits finishing touches and landscaping. The new facility will provide better and efficient services to OFWs. Mark Adrian

The new facility is equipped with fiber-optic lines, closed-circuit TV cameras and other high-tech information and communications infrastructure. Made of tempered glass and steel, the modern OCA office departs from the traditional concrete buildings.

“[This is] part of the ongoing modernization program undertaken [by the agency] to further improve its frontline services which include harnessing new technologies in passport and visa issuances and streamlined procedures in the authentication of documents," the DFA said.

The new facility is located at the corner of Bradco and Macapagal Avenues in Aseana Business Park, just a few minutes away from the SM Mall of Asia. It will be open to the public in a few weeks. Consular services meanwhile will continue at the DFA’s existing consular facilities along Roberts Street.

The new facility will be the home of the ePassport, the electronic authentication system, the electronic visa system, and digitized consular records system.

“The OCA building is poised to set the new standard among government front-line offices, providing the public with fast, efficient, and comfortable service," the DFA said. - Jerrie Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more