Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to address the apparent misinformatioin that have recently caused the influx of passport applicants and apostille services that flocked and lined up at the Aseana Business Park office in Parañaque City.

Gatchalian expressed his concern over the plight of the walk-in applicants, some of them even staying overnight at the office, who were apparently lured by online fixers, scammers and irresponsible recruitment agencies due to the misleading informatioin about DFA’s walk-in policy.

“Heightened information dissemination is apparently needed to dissuade our kababayans from queueing at night and opting to sleep on the sidewalk overnight just to get a slot at the walk-in application. Their well-being should be our paramount concern,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Wednesday.

The senatorial candidate said the DFA must make full use of social media platforms as well as mainstream media to properly guide applicants.

The senator also said the DFA should impose appropriate sanctions against the erring recruitment agencies who urged applicants to line up and stay overnight at the DFA Aseana in the hopes to fast track their travel documents.

He also said the agency should file criminal charges against fixers offering exorbitant fees to obtain passport and authentication appointment slots.

“Hindi kailangang magdusa ang mga kababayan natin para lamang mabigyan ng serbisyo ng gobyerno. Karapatan nilang maserbisyuhan bilang mga taxpayers (Our citizens need not suffer as they seek government services. It’s their right to be given the right service as taxpayers),” he said.

“Hindi man kasalanan ng DFA ang mga pangyayaring nasaksihan natin nitong mga nakaraang araw, mandato nila na bigyan ng tamang gabay at tagubilin ang mga aplikante nang sa gayon ay maiwasan ang dagdag na gastusin at pahirap sa kanila (Though it’s not the DFA’s fault, they have the mandate to provide guidance and advisories to every passport applicants to spare them from additional expenses and inconvenience),” Gatchalian emphasized.