MORE than 800,000 passport appointment slots were made available by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) -Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) starting this week up to December 2022 to accommodate the huge number of applicants.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo on Wednesday made this announcement during the unveiling of the OCA’s refurbished office in Aseana, including new escalators and elevators.

Manalo added the DFA is planning to open 300,000 more slots on top of the 803,000 before the end of the year.

OCA Assistant Secretary Henry Bensurto Jr. said slots were only good for two weeks prior to the opening of more than 800,000 appointment slots.

“I think it was very important to stretch, streamline and tinker the process, the system itself to allow us to open the slots all the way to December. So that’s how we were able to do it essentially,” he said.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Cristina Lee-Pisco