Having trouble logging in to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website for passport appointments?
Check your Internet connection, and keep trying.
This was essentially the advice DFA Undersecretary Brigido Dulay gave to the public Saturday, Oct. 2, amid complaints that the agency's website has been slow to load or worse, offline or unreachable.
"Yun kasing pag log-in doon sa website na yan, maraming factor yan...maaaring yung Internet connection nila mahina (Logging in to the website involves many factors...it could be that their Internet connection is weak)," Dulay said during the "Laging Handa" virtual press briefing.
"Ang pakiusap ko lang po sa ating mga kababayan, siguraduhin lang po na malakas po yung connection natin sa Internet (My appeal to the people is to make sure that they have strong Internet connection)," he said.
Dulay also denied reports that the DFA website occasionally bogs down, saying that the glut of passport appointments they get proves otherwise.
"Pero yung website is laging naka-on yan sapagkat araw-araw marami kaming nakukuha na reservation or appointment para sa passporting (But the website is always online because we receive a lot or reservations or appointments for passporting everyday)."
But the DFA official did admit that the system slows down whenever a huge number of people attempts to log in at the same time.
"Talagang sa dami po talaga ng sumusubok po, talagang inaamin naman po namin na kung minsan po ay nagkakabuhol-buhol po sa Internet yan (Due to the huge number of people logging in, we admit that sometimes, the Internet goes awry)," he said.
"So pagpasensyahan niyo na po, sumubok lang po kayo, mag-tiyaga lang po kayo, at lagi naman pong naka-up yung aming website. Hindi naman po nagda-down yung website namin (So please have patience, just keep trying, and know that our website is always up. Our website doesn't go offline)," Dulay added.
He said that "more appointment slots" will be made available this final quarter of 2021. He didn't give a specific number.
"Subukan niyo lang po, mag-log in lang po kayo, mag appointment lang po kayo (Keep trying, just log in and secure appointments)," concluded the official.