MANILA — The Philippine embassy in Japan on Sunday concluded its Anti Red-Tape Act (ARTA) caravan, which brought several Philippine government frontline services closer to Filipinos in Japan.
Consul General Robespierre Bolivar said the outreach activity served more than 600 Filipinos at the Hibiya Park in Tokyo, Japan on September 8-9.
The envoy, who initiated and supervised the project, said they first conducted an informal survey of the non-Department of Foreign Affairs frontline services that the Filipinos in Japan urgently need but are not normally available overseas.
“Based on that survey, we invited partner agencies which provide those particular services to be part of our outreach at this year’s festival,” he said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Filipinos were able to avail themselves of services from the Pag-IBIG Fund and Social Security System, as well as National Bureau of Investigation clearance application, Philippine drivers’ license renewal, and consular consultations.
The embassy noted that this was a first for most of these Philippine government agencies conducting an outreach in Japan.
“The ARTA Caravan is part of the embassy’s ongoing efforts to bring urgent and much-needed front-line government services closer to our community. We are working towards providing proactive and responsive services to our kababayan in Japan,” Ambassador to Japan Jose C. Laurel V said in his welcome remarks at the opening of the festival.
Filipinos, who availed themselves of the services during the outreach, expressed their appreciation for the initiative.
Some wrote on client feedback forms that the outreach enabled them to save a significant amount of effort and finances since these services are usually available only in the Philippines.
Of the 600 Filipinos, Bolivar said some 270 applied for or updated their Pag-IBIG membership during the two-day ARTA Caravan. (PR/PNA)
