Department of Foreign Affairs (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) opened a consular office in this capital city of Zamboanga del Sur on Tuesday.
The Pagadian’s consular office is the 9th in Mindanao and the 37th in the country. It is located at the 2nd floor of the local government-owned City Commercial Center.
Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co said the new DFA facility here would help serve not only the Zamboanga del Sur applicants for passports but also its neighboring areas of Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga Sibugay.
It can cater up to 150 applicants per day for its first two weeks of operation and the capacity can increase up to 250 per day in the following weeks, Co added.
The mayor added it was a relief that “finally after several years of appealing to the DFA, since Secretary Teodoro Locsin,” the consular office here is now open to serve the public.
DFA-IX Regional Director Phlorita Ridao said that in the Zamboanga Peninsula, there are already two consular offices, one in Zamboanga City.
She said this would minimize the inconvenience of spending more time and money to get one’s passport as it is more accessible to the people.
Zamboanga City is serving the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi tawi, apart from the Zamboanga Peninsula.
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