DFA: No passport applications on May 14

MANILA, Philippines — Offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) handling passport applications will be closed on May 14, which has been declared by Malacañang as a special non-working holiday to give way to the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

The DFA said applicants with confirmed passport appointments on May 14 may be accommodated at their original site on weekdays from May 15 to 25.

Mall-based consular offices will set limits on the number of walk-in applicants that may be accommodated on these dates, the DFA said.

“Applicants are further advised to bring a printout of their passport appointments originally scheduled on May 14 along with the other requirements,” it said.

4 new ‘passport on wheels’

Starting May 18, the DFA will deploy more passport mobile services to distant cities and towns in the country in a bid to process up to 4,000 passport applications daily.

The DFA has acquired four vans, bringing to eight the total number of vans for its ‘passport on wheels’ program designed to meet the increasing demand for passport applications.

Each van is equipped with five data capturing machines that can process 500 passport applications per day. 

“With the additional units, the number of passport applications that can be accommodated daily is increased by 4,000,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.

The DFA is looking to add two megavans by June to further increase the DFA’s capacity to process passport applications.

“We will continue to exert efforts to make passport services accessible to the people wherever they are in the country,”Cayetano said.

The passport on wheels program has been rolled out in 82 cities and municipalities since Jan. 15 this year.

The DFA also launched mobile passport services in Davao City and Ilocos Norte. – Helen Flores