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| DFA Passport Online Appointment, photo from philnews.xyz |
Nagsimula ang pag-expose ni Sass Rogando Sasot matapos ang isang concernced Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) na frequent traveler ay naging pinakabagong biktima ng pinaghihinalaang sindikato sa loob ng DFA. Ang concerned na mamamayan ay kumuha ng lakas ng loob na magsulat ng open letter kay Sass upang ihatid ang kanyang mensahe.
Ayon sa open letter ng concerned netizen, nais ng kanyang asawa na mag-renew ng kanyang pasaporte at sinubukang mag-book ng isang appointment online sa pamamagitan ng opisyal na site na ibinigay ng DFA, ngunit tila ang lahat ng tatlong buong buwan ay na-block at puno na sa lahat ng mga lokasyon at mga satellite offices.
Ipinaliwanag ng netizen na upang makatipid ng oras ay wala silang magawa kundi sundin ang instruction na ibinigay sa kanila ng isang agency na nakaabiso sa pag-secure ng appointment ngunit may napakamahal na mga payment fee. Inihayag niya na ang assistance sa schedule at appointment ay nagkakahalaga ng P4,500.00 hindi kasama ang bayad sa pasaporte.
Narito ang kumpletong paghahayag ng isang concerned netizen na ibinahagi ni Sasot:
PAKIBUWAG ANG SINDIKATO SA LOOB NG DFA!
Hi Sass,
I have been reading and following your blogs for quite some time now and I have seen how you have made efforts to help or raise concern on matters that impact our country or the government. I would like to request your help in escalating my concern to Sec Peter Cayetano regarding the passport appointment system in DFA.
My husband recently needed to renew his passport and tried to book an appointment online via passport.gov.ph but it seems that all 3 full monhs have been booked and blocked already in ALL locations and satellite offices. His passport is about to expire in March and the system only shows 3months so even if we wanted to book much earlier, it would have been way too early. In any case, I was surprised that, again, all appointments for the next 3 months are booked in ALL locations (check it and you’ll see!). Is this really possible??? Now I asked around and checked if any travel agencies are offering passport assistance and there seems to be a lot of them, all with available appointments on hand - and you can even select your preferred date!
When I asked how it is possible for them to secure those appointments without any applicant yet, I was told that they are being “assisted” by some DFA employees to block the schedules and in turn, they pay them. As my husband’s passport is already expiring, I used their services as I had no choice. All the schedules are blocked and I am guessing even if the appointment calendar shows 6 months, those will be blocked as well. Now, what I am really concerned about is the fee being collected. The “assistance” to schedule an appointment costs P4.500!!! this does not even include the actual passport fees. This is just for the supposedly “free” appointment schedule!!! And from what the travel agent told me, P2.500 goes to the DFA employee while the rest they keep. This is blatant corruption!!! If there are, say 30 applicants per hour on an 8-hr day, the corrupt employee is earning about P600,000 per day just blocking a whole day’s appointment in one location! I don’t think though this is just one person but there are many of them inside this government agency. It is very frustrating to know that while Tatay Digong is trying to clean up our government of corruption, this hocus-pocus blatantly exists in the agency where a lot of OFWs will be impacted. It just does not feel right to me that this practice should continue and be tolerated. Garapal ang kasakiman at pangugulang ng mga corrupt sa DFA and I cannot, for my own sanity, just sit down and just let this pass.
While I admit that I had no option but to use the “services”, I am hoping that with this letter, we can push Sec Cayetano to really look much closer into this matter and act on it. The enemy is hiding inside his fortress and he needs to find and eliminate them. If we really want a corrupt-free government, PLEASE help in stopping this practice in DFA.
Thank you very much for your attention and I hope you could help in ensuring this reaches Sec Cayetano.
For my own security, I would appreciate that you do not publish my full name. But just for your benefit that I am not making this up and that I am a real person, you can find my profile in linkedin (OF) - I work for ______, an _____ company and I am one of their executives and also a freqent traveller.
Thanks again and more power to you! God Bless!
regards,
OF
