Mobile passport services in Dumaguete set in May

Applicants urged to visit City Tourism Office to be listed

By Rachelle M. Nessia

Friday 9th of March 2012

DUMAGUETE CITY, March 12 (PIA) -- A two-day mobile passport service will be held in Dumaguete City on May 5 and 6, 2012.

Personnel from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Bacolod Consular Office will be at the Robinson’s Place to entertain applications for new and renewal of expired passports from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on May 5, and 8:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. on May 6.

Jessica Layumas of the City Tourism Office here is urging applicants to visit the city tourism office immediately to be listed for the mobile services.

“Our staff will also pre-evaluate documents to determine which papers are lacking, if there are any, to avoid delays and confusion during the processing day,” she said in a statement released by the City Information Office.

The tourism office has requested the DFA to once again bring what is now their fourth mobile passport services in Dumaguete City following the high volume of requests from the public.

Since it was first held in the city in 2009, more than 2,000 passports have been processed by DFA during the mobile services held in the city in coordination with the tourism office.

This equates to an average of 700 passports per activity, a figure which DFA says is unprecedented in the department’s experience during their mobile passport services in Negros island.

The statement from the City Information Office quoted DFA Bacolod Chief Executive Officer Joselito Blas as saying that the lowest turnout they’ve had was 28 applicants in a local government unit in Negros Occidental.

Layumas said the city tourism office will continue to facilitate more mobile passport services in Dumaguete in the future.

The two-day passport service also kicks-off the month-long celebration of Santacruzan Festival in the city in May. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)