ILOILO CITY — Top officials of this city have appealed to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to resolve the problems concerning online appointments for passport services at DFA Consular Office Iloilo.
According to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, his office has been receiving many complaints regarding the appointments with the DFA Consular Office Iloilo.
“It takes a long time for most Ilonggos to facilitate application, renewal, or releasing of their passports,” lamented Mayor Treñas.
“They find it difficult to secure appointment slots for passport application and renewal,” echoed Congressman Michael Gorriceta of Iloilo’s second district.
The DFA-Iloilo is one of the two in the whole Western Visayas region, the other one being in Bacolod City. That being the case, the DFA-Iloilo serves not only the residents of Iloilo City and the rest of Iloilo province, but also those from Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Guimaras.
Many of those who cannot secure appointments are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have been working on their papers and passports as signs of returning to normalcy here and abroad become clearer.
“As we ease through the new normal, and with the timely declaration of Iloilo being placed under Alert Level 1, we appeal to DFA to gradually load the appointment slots for passport application and renewal to be able to accommodate more constituents,” urged Treñas.
Both Treñas and Gorriceta sent letters to DFA Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr.
Gorriceta’s letter was coursed through DFA Assistant Secretary Raul S. Hernandez while Treñas coursed it through DFA Consular Iloilo officer-in-charge Sheila Marie Tu.
The DFA Consular Office Iloilo cited Locsin’s earlier statement that the online system is centralized and that some recruitment agencies may have taken advantage of it.