By: Villamor C. Visaya Jr.
(Published in its print edition on May 31 – June 6, 2025)
THE alleged shenanigans at the Department of Foreign Affairs through its consular offices are under the radar, as always over recurring complaints from some of their clients who expressed disgust over some of their workers.
Just recently, issues of recurring activities of the DFA’s corruption in its visa and consular services at Philippine Foreign Service Posts continue to cloud doubt on the integrity of this department.
Some of its workers are accused of extortion and other illicit activities in the processing of visa applications.
Yet, the DFA just denied the allegations, apparently without putting a continuous, deeper and serious probe on the matter. They claim that safeguards are in place through their system and that they made a “timely and thorough” investigation. The results, however, are not even transparent to the public.
The DFA is open for their side on this matter. If they are true public servants who serve the Filipinos with utmost attention, they must explain.
DFA top honchos are claiming public service but to whom?
They are even denying legitimate documents from longtime Filipino citizens and impose their “own will” of presentation of birth certificates.
What the heck are these policies? A newly-born and natural-born Filipino does not register his documents because he or she is just a child.
Where in the world can you see DFA impose their will that a suffix of Jr. or Sr., for that matter, must precede the first name in the birth certificate? Civil registry documents have been prepared way long ago for adults and Filipinos with such documents should even be helped instead of shooing them away and have their documents replaced through the Philippine Statistics Authority and/or the local civil registrar’s office.
Imagine the money spent which will again double for an unprocessed passport application. A client would pay P950 for regular processing, which means 12 business days, or expedited processing or P1,200 for seven business days.
They usually harp the case of Alice Guo’s their reason for becoming too strict with their requirements.
These are just the sidelights. The tip of an iceberg.#
