Consular outreach program scheduled in August

LOS ANGELES — The Consulate General in Los Angeles is pleased to announce that a Consular Outreach Program will be held in Dallas, Texas on 9 August 2008 from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the PNB Remittance Center, Inc., 940 E. Beltline Drive, Suite 130, Richardson, Dallas. This outreach program will be organized in cooperation with the Filipino community in Dallas under the leadership of the Philippine National Bank and Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce of Texas (PACC Texas). Interested parties may wish to contact the following: Shirley Camacho (281) 988-7001, (800) 762-8788 and Emil Evangelista (972) 470-9910, (972) 470-9912 of PNB; and, Ethel Mercado (214) 334-8487 of PACC Texas. The outreach program will accept and process applications for Machine Readable Passport (Cost: $50). The consular team will also accept and process applications for the retention and re-acquisition of Philippine citizenship pursuant to Republic Act 9225 or Dual Citizenship (Cost: $50). Oath-taking will be scheduled on the same day for qualified applicants. Notarization of documents will also be accepted, however, this will be processed in Los Angeles and returned to the applicant by mail. Application forms and requirements could be downloaded from the website of the Consulate at www.philippineconsulatela.org. The Philippine Embassy and Consulate Generals in the U.S. started processing Machine Readable Passports (MRP) on June 2, 2008. The Machine Readable Passports will benefit the Filipinos primarily in terms of document security and integrity and ease of travel. It has superior security features compared to the green passports, which virtually eliminates the possibility of identity theft and acts of fraud. A Machine Readable Passport is being issued by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in compliance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for members, including the Philippines, to issue MRPs not later than 1 April 2010. It will take six weeks for a passport to be released to the applicants, from the time the application is accepted. Personal appearance for all will be required for data verification, finger-printing and signature capture. Applications by mail will no longer be accepted. In compliance with the new photo requirements for the MRP, applicants are requested to visit the Consulate’s web site. To ensure a smooth and orderly processing of applications, interested parties are requested to contact the organizers or the Consulate (pcgenla_dual@yahoo.com), for any questions or inquiries. - Philippine News