‘Pre-scheduling passport renewals is good’

Almost 400 Filipinos renewed their passports during the second mobile consulate mission of the Philippine Consulate General-Guam held from March 5 to 8. Applications for the next mobile mission in May are now being accepted by the office of Philippine honorary consul Glicerio Arago. (Frauleine Villanueva-Dizon)

The mobile consular mission of the Philippine Consulate General-Guam has processed almost all of the scheduled Filipinos who needed to renew their passports.

According to Philippine consul Gary Auxilian, only a few people didn’t show up on time for their scheduled slots.

For this mission held from March 5 until yesterday at the Don Pedro Restaurant along Middle Road in Garapan, 400 slots were allotted and the schedule was pre-arranged by the Office Of Honorary Consul Glicerio Eli Arago, based on those who submitted their applications in January.

Auxilian said this was a good idea as they only have limited slots and limited time during mobile missions and through scheduling those who really needed immediate passport renewals may be given special attention.

“I think it’s also good because there are some who don’t really need the immediate renewal of their passports so, at least, [Arago’s office] is able to screen and ask for those people to give way to those who really need to renew their passports already,” Auxilian said.

Although there is a schedule, Auxilian said the applications are not pre-processed. This way, clogging of their database will be avoided.

“On our part, we really try to attend to the needs of our kababayans,” Auxilian said.

Auxilian added that they are also able to process 16 extensions of validity of passports under the new circular, which requires those who extended their passports’ validity to also apply for renewal.

“It’s a requirement under the new circular. They have to also be in the process of renewing their passports,” Auxilian said.

Last January they stopped approving validity extensions of passports but there was a demand from Philippine posts from various areas of the globe.

“Due to the request of several posts, there are still some people who needed to extend the validity of their passports,” Auxilian said.

They were also able to process at least two reports of birth, one report of marriage, and four dual citizenship applications.

“We’re happy that our consular mission is orderly, smooth,” Auxilian said.

The next mobile mission will be on May, for which the Office of the Honorary Consul has already started accepting applications for scheduling.

A fourth mission this year will be held sometime in July.

Passports renewed last January and voters’ ID can also be claimed through Arago’s office. For other inquiries, the public may reach out to Mel Santos at 233-2898.