ANGELES CITY– The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has shed its image of being too lofty for the reach of the masses, as it started recently the operation of yet another of its provincial satellite office at Marquee Mall in this city, two months after opening another one 18 kilometers south in the City of San Fernando.
Consul Elmer Cato, DFA special assistant for special projects, said the satellite office here is one of the 16 such offices planned in malls in the provinces.
The DFA office on the third floor of Marquee Mall started “trial” operations last Monday by processing passport applications and renewals, but it will be formally opened on Aug. 1, he said.
Cato declined to state figures, but stressed that the accommodation of DFA offices in malls would lead to savings in operational expenses worth about P1.04 billion in the next 10 years.
The DFA office here was the third to open in a provincial mall, following one that opened in San Fernando which catered to 1,000 passport applicants daily, and another that opened in Mandaue City in Cebu.
In the past, provincial folk spent much for transportation and even arrive the day before they join the long line of passport applicants at the DFA office in Manila.
Cato said the establishment of the DFA offices in malls in various regions is part of Pres. Aquino’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The DFA has already signed such PPP contracts that will pave the way for the establishments of more consular offices in SM, Robinson’s, Ayala, and Gaisano malls.
“With the opening of the DFA in Marquee Mall, we will shut down our satellite office at Clark Freeport to move its services to the mall,” Cato also said.
He said the PPP contracts would pave the way for the establishment of more consular offices in Robinson’s malls in Galeria in Quezon City and in the provincial cities of Laoag, Lipa, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Tacloban, and General Santos.
In SM malls, consular offices are also to be established in Manila, Mandaluyong, Baguio, and Batangas.
The consular office to open next month Marquee Mall in Angeles would be the only mall so far under the Ayala group of companies to host the DFA, Cato said.
He estimated that daily, some 10,000 passport applicants from provinces north of Metro Manila troop to DFA offices for new passports or passport renewals.
Cato said the transfer of DFA satellite offices to first-class facilities in shopping malls underscores the commitment of the DFA to provide the public not only with more efficient service, but also with more comfortable and accessible venues.
He said that more DFA satellite offices in the provinces would decongest the daily crowd in the DFA in Manila.
Cato said the DFA has also relaxed its attire requirements for those seeking passports at its satellite offices.
“Of course we don’t expect people to be wearing slippers and shorts, but any other decent attire will do, “ he said.
