SAN PABLO CITY, Laguna – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Consular Office here is now open following its inauguration Monday at the SM City San Pablo mall 2nd floor in a bid to help fulfill its mission of bringing passport application services closer to the Filipino people.
The mall-based consular hub here has been described by excited applicants and San Pableños a very accessible office in a convenient location at the city’s main business convergence zone facing the main corridor along the Maharlika Highway in Barangay San Rafael.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Neil Frank R. Ferrer officiated in the ribbon-cutting inaugural rites with Laguna Vice Governor Karen C. Agapay, Provincial Administrator Dulce Rebanal, and San Pablo City Vice-Mayor Angelita E. Yang and SM Supermalls Chief Operating Officer Steven T. Tan.
“The consular office here will provide a convenient and comfortable passport application experience in line with the DFA’s commitment to make the passport application system faster and easier for the public,” Ferrer said.
The establishment of the office here was in support of Executive Order No. 45 dated Oct. 20, 2017 which paves the way for opening consular offices in the provinces to bring passport services closer to the people.
The DFA Consular Office San Pablo is the 30th consular office established across the country under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program of the Department of Foreign Affairs with private business establishments and local government units and the SM Supermalls.
It is the fifth consular office hosted by SM Malls following the memorandum of agreement inked by the DFA and SM Malls for their mall-based consular hubs in the country.
The mall management here said the new office has six processing and bio-metric encoding counters to process more applications. Clients could also avail of assistance-to-nationals services at this new consular office as the operations of the new consular office will be supervised by officer-in-charge Arvin G. Atentar.
Ferrer said the newly-organized consular team is expected to serve 120 clients daily, but eventually the office can accommodate up to 300 appointments a day, excluding those who would avail of the courtesy lane for persons with disability (PWDs), senior citizens and pregnant women.
He added that for the DFA field office to cater to more applicants, they may add mobile system for the passport processing in places far from the consular offices. (Ruben E. Taningco/PNA)
