The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be deploying its Passport on Wheels (POW) mobile outreach service in Cebu City in Philippines for a month-long mission that starts Monday until the the end of February.
According to the DFA, two passport “mega vans” will be stationed at SM Seaside City to address the city’s “massive demand” for passport appointment slots.
The Cebu mission will also see the first-time deployment of the passport mega vans.
The DFA said a single mega van has the capability to process 800 to 1,000 passport applications per day, twice as many as their regular POW vans launched last year.
The mega vans also have passport servicing equipment built-in to allow the data-capturing of the applicants inside the mega vans themselves, DFA added.
The POW program was launched almost a year ago under the watch of then-Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano following numerous complaints about the agency’s passport appointment system that was allegedly marred by fixers.
Cebuanos are advised to first secure appointments at passport.gov.ph/appointment.
Victor Gotevbe is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of Diplomatic Watch. He is the Managing Director of Conduit Communications Limited.
