DFA OPENS CONSULAR OFFICE IN ISABELA MALL

SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela: Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFA) and Robinsons Land Corporation ( RLC) led the recent inauguration of the Santiago City Consular Office ( SCCO) at Robinsons Place. First to be served were more than 100 walk- in passport applicants. Angelica Escanola, DFA- Office of Consular Affairs executive director, said the department is committed to make its passport and other consular services more accessible to the people. “We are opening at least eight consular offices nationwide. The SCCO is only second to the newly opened consular office in San Nicolas town in the province of Ilocos Norte last week,” Escanola added. She said the new locations including Santiago City promise a more convenient and comfortable passport processing for residents within the area and the nearby provinces. President Rodrigo Duterte last years signed Executive Order ( EO) 45 that authorized the DFA to open additional consular offices. Mayor Joseph Tan said the opening

of the SCCO makes it easier and economical for the people of Isabela province and the neighboring provinces of Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino to apply for passports. The SCCO is the 29th consular office to be established in the country under EO 45 and it is the 13th mall- based regional consular office opened under the Public- Private Partnership Program of the DFA with RLC with a soft opening on May 2, 2018. Irving Wu, RLC director for operations for Central Luzon, said the corporation has signed a memorandum of agreement for the establishment of 14 consular offices in its 14 malls in the country.