Passport appointment slots opened

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of appointment slots are now available to applicants who will apply for and renew their passports, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Assistant Secretary Frank Cimafranca of the Office of Consular Affairs said an additional 94,350 slots were opened from July to August. Thousands more will be opened today for September appointments.

Of the slots opened last month, 62,450 were made available after the DFA increased the consular offices’ appointment quotas, while the remaining 31,900 came from the cleaning up of bogus appointments created by unscrupulous individuals.

He said there was also an increase in personnel in charge of processing documents.

At the ASEANA office, the DFA’s main processing center for passports, there has been a 73.6-percent increase in the capacity to accept and process daily appointments, from 1,900 to 3,300.

To prevent the unnecessary use of slots, Cimafranca issued the reminder that senior citizens, persons with disabilities, solo parents, pregnant women and minors (seven years old and below) may just walk in without prior appointment with the DFA when renewing or applying for passports.

Cimafranca said they may use the courtesy lane upon arrival and make a presentation of their respective IDs.

The appointment slots are free and asked passport applicants not to deal with fixers.