Ayala-owned mall to host DFA passport office in Pampanga

An upscale Ayala-owned mall will host the Department of Foreign Affairs' passport office in Angeles City in Pampanga, following the signing of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement last Dec. 16.

 

The arrangement will have the DFA satellite office at Clark Field transferred to the upscale MarQuee Mall.

 

"The arrangements with Ayala Land would not only allow the DFA to upgrade its facilities and improve the delivery of consular services but would also allow the government to save as much as P50 million in the next five years," DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

Signing the memorandum of agreement were Del Rosario and Ayala Land President Antonino Aquino.

 

The agreement between the DFA and Ayala Land subsidiary North Beacon Commercial Corp. is the third PPP agreement the DFA entered into.

 

According to the DFA, the P50-million savings is in addition to the P250 million that the DFA will save over 10 years as a result of the PPP arrangements it earlier entered into with Robinsons Land Corp. and Pacific Mall Corp. for the hosting of 10 consular offices nationwide.

 

"Our partnerships with Ayala Land, Robinsons Land and Pacific Mall would allow the national government to save more than P300 million in taxpayers' money that would otherwise have been spent to cover the cost of the transfer, hosting and operational requirements of DFA consular offices in shopping centers," Del Rosario said.

 

"But more than just the facelift and the savings, our transfer to first-class facilities in shopping malls underscores the commitment of the DFA to serve the public better by making it more convenient for our people to avail themselves of passport and other consular services," he added.

 

Del Rosario said the new consular office, which will be located on the third level of MarQuee Mall, will be much larger than its present location inside Clark Field.

 

It can serve as many as 600 applicants from Central and Northern Luzon and Metro Manila.

 

"Given its proximity to the Metropolis, we can expect our MarQuee facility to help decongest the main passport processing center at the Office of Consular Affairs along Macapagal Avenue in Parañaque City," Del Rosario said.

 

"By next year, we hope to be able to conclude ongoing negotiations and enter into similar arrangements with other friends in the private sector that would allow them to host our remaining consular offices and as well as future facilities that we will open in Metro Manila and other underserved areas of the country," he added.

 

Del Rosario said passport applicants will be served in more modern, applicant-friendly consular offices that will placed in major shopping centers starting 2012.

 

Passport applicants in the Central Visayas will be the first to experience this new service when the P13.5-million Regional Consular Office in Mandaue City, Cebu, is officially inaugurated next month.

 

This will be followed by the formal opening of consular offices in Pampanga, General Santos, Lipa, Tacloban and Quezon City.

 

"We will also be expanding our services to other areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in partnership with the private sector," Del Rosario said. — LBG, GMA News