By Janet Villarojo | 09:48 PM June 14, 2024
The Provincial Government of Bohol’s (PGBh) Passport on Wheels, in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), once again spun its mobile passporting activities for a three-day online registration From June 12-14.
This is in preparation for the upcoming face-to-face interview with DFA personnel on August 13-16 at the Ceremonial Hall of the Provincial Capitol, to be assisted by Bohol Employment and Placement Office-Public Employment Service Office (BEPO-PESO) staff.
BEPO-PESO Head Maria Vilma Yorong said that their office finally opted for the three-day online registration to avoid long queues where some applicants who could not come to the Capitol earlier during face-to-face registrations had to bear long hours standing in long lines and sometimes had to endure the scorching sun in places where there were no canopies to protect them from the heat.
“Envisioning passport applicants going through the same unpleasant experience again is unthinkable during these times of online registrations, WIFIs, and the internet. So, we at BEPO-PESO requested the DFA to allow us here in Bohol to have our applicants register online for their convenience and of course, we owe it to the Boholanos to help and assist them in procuring their passports without necessarily putting them in challenging situations,” Yorong said.
Passport on Wheels focal person Kcy Noelle Cabangnot said that the “3-day online registration opened each day at exactly 8:00 a.m. and automatically closed as soon as the 1,000 mark per day was reached.”
She further explained that the DFA allocated only 3,000 slots for their 4-day face-to-face interview with Boholano applicants slated in August and this is why BEPO-PESO has scheduled an initial screening of applicants next week; that is, from June 18 to June 21.
First-time applicants or those who are going to renew their passports were advised to follow a set of instructions for online registration posted on the BEPO-PESO Facebook Page and informed further to bring their legibly and filled out printed application form and the original copies of their documents with one photocopy of each requirement and present those on their scheduled screening day.
Those whose births were registered late could bring their NBI clearance instead of their PSA birth certificate. However, it was clarified that the latter is just a supporting document and is NOT a valid ID in itself.
The use of online registrations in the implementation of BEPO-PESO programs, like the 2-day facilitation for the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) last May 15-16 and the recent 3-day registration for the Passport on Wheels, is part of the Aumentado-Balite Administration’s strategic change agenda which underscores instituting reforms and improvements in the workplace to improve governance to better serve the Boholanos more effectively and efficiently. (PGBh/ВЕРО-PESO/JanetV)
