The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regional consular office in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental will soon become a dream come true as the agency has already prepositioned manpower and resources for it.
This was disclosed by DFA Assistant Secretary Charles (ASEC) Jose on Thursday in an interview with reporters in Dumaguete City following a forum on the West Philippine Sea.
According to the DFA official, he visited the proposed regional consular office at the Robinsons Mall on Wednesday and announced some “good news” when asked why it took awhile for the said office to become operational.
Jose disclosed that the office is almost ready to commence operations, with furnishings, computers and other equipment already in place.
In fact, a regional consular officer has also been named and was with him and his party during his visit to Dumaguete.
He was referring to Tita Rebollos, who hails from Dipolog City, speaks the Cebuano dialect and who has been with the DFA for 28 years.
The DFA regional consular office here will be manned by 15 people, to include Rebollos, Jose added.
Majority of them will be from here although they have already trained with the RCO in Bacolod City, he said.
However, there are still some internal matters that need to be ironed out before the DFA office in Dumaguete will become operational such that he could not give a specific date for its opening, he said.
The announcement came as the two provinces of Negros Island, through their Technical Working Groups, have started discussing the salient points for the one island region as declared by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III recently.
Although there is already an existing DFA regional consular office in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, the one being proposed in Dumaguete City will still push ahead, according to ASEC Jose.
This is because the DFA and the mall operators have already signed an agreement to that effect.
Meanwhile, he clarified that the DFA still caters to requests from local government units for the holding of mobile passport services.
The DFA assistant secretary was in Dumaguete City for separate forums and focus group discussions on matters and issues concerning the Philippines’ dispute with China on territorial sovereignty of the West Philippine Sea, also known as the South China Sea. (PNA)
