New Dubai consul general seeks digital services push for Pinoys

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Newly installed Consul General Ambrosio Brian Enciso III wants to step up digital services for overseas Filipinos in this Middle Eastern city of the future, even as he admitted hurdles in making this a reality.

Speaking at a press conference here on January 5, Enciso said credit card payments for consulate services and digitalized contract verification are among the recent services launched for the convenience of Filipinos here. Enciso expressed belief, however, that there was room to upgrade the digital services that the consulate can provide.

Best practices to achieve such improvements, Enciso said, can be learned from the host city.

"Digitalization is not something universal but when we implement something, it has to be universal," Enciso said. 

He added, "Hindi puwedeng Dubai (post) lang. Puwedeng Dubai ang mauna pero there have to be systems in place."

(It can't be that the Dubai post of the Philippines is the only one doing it. Dubai City can be ahead, but there has to be systems in place.)

All of the United Arab Emirates' government transactions with the populace are already done online.

An estimated 750,000 documented Filipinos are based in Dubai and the Northern Emirates of Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain.

Digital shift

Making a digital shift, Enciso said, has always been challenging.

"We started accepting card payment and that has been, even in my previous post, a stumbling block," said Enciso, whose most recent assignment was deputy consul general in Los Angeles, California.

"But how do we do this? How do we learn from Dubai, which has so much audacity to try so many things, to grasp the future? And then, tayo ay sana may ganoon din (And then, we tell ourselves that, hopefully, we'll have that, too)," said Enciso.

Enciso also previously served as Philippine consul in Xiamen, People's Republic of China.

He assumed his post as head of the Philippine mission in Dubai and the Northern Emirates on November 21, 2025.

Courier service

The Philippine mission in Dubai and the Northern Emirates currently has plans to implement a mailing service, where constituents are texted for consular transactions.

"A courier service can be integrated into our system because a lot of Filipinos have to come back here [to complete their transactions]. But remember also that we have to… if Filipinos want to give their passports away, not even the most secure courier service could assure prevention of loss," said the consul general.

"Those are the things we are looking at. Card payment is already okay. Let’s see if we can also do door-to-door delivery. The consular services are already there. What we want is the experience to be more pleasant. We have to try to make the process more convenient," said Enciso.

He reminded that "not everything that we can do here will be done immediately, a lot of it has to pass through Manila" for approval.

Enciso joined the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in 2003. He graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University with a bachelor's degree in Economics in 2001. — VDV, GMA Integrated News