The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has officially announced that beginning June 1, 2016, they will be an implementing a 30-day ban for individuals who will not show up on their passport appointment date.
This has been confirmed by Jose Rene Almendras, outgoing secretary of DFA. The reason behind this ban, of course, is that some people book appointments with them but then never show up at the appointed date. In fact, they have gathered information that about 47% of those who scheduled for an appointment for passport do not show up at all.
“They just apply now, they don’t show up again so starting June 1, if you do not show up for your appointment you’re gonna be put aside for at least a month. You are not going to apply for a new slot,” said Secretary Almendras.
This 30-day ban, Almendras hopes, would encourage people from attending in person as they book for appointment. People will no longer disregard their applications since, as it was in the past, they can always book for another time if they want. This time, the Department expects that people will chose the best date that matches their schedule and really commit to attend it.
In a recent interview with Karen Davila of ABS-CBN News, Almendras has vowed a stricter, more efficient passport procedure from now on. The secretary openly acknowledged that, yes, they had suffered a “bumpy” system of a system of the passport application for the past years. He, however, has “his eyes set on ironing them out before stepping down from office,” according to the video description uploaded on YouTube.
Watch Sec. Jose Rene Almendras’ interview here:
source: dfa/abscbn/youtube