Philippine Consul General Roussel R Reyes (centre) with UFOQ Chairman Ressie S Fos (right) and GMA 7 correspondent Manny Flores at the UFOQ Teleradyo show.
The Philippine Embassy has issued around 300 travel documents to Filipinos who availed of the Qatari government’s three-month amnesty for illegal residents, according to an embassy official.
“We issued around 300 travel documents during the amnesty period which ended on December 1, but many amnesty-seekers also went directly to the Ministry of Interior’s Search and Follow-up Department,” said Philippine Consul General Roussel R Reyes.
Speaking at Tuesday night’s episode of UFOQ Teleradyo, an online public service programme of United Filipino Organisations in Qatar and the Alliance of Filipino Journalists in Qatar (AFJQ), Reyes said they are coordinating with the MoI to determine the total number of Filipinos who availed of the amnesty.
For many of the undocumented Filipinos who sought amnesty their main reason for illegally staying in Qatar was economic, said Reyes, who currently heads the Assistance To Nationals (ATN) department at the embassy.
Lauding the Qatari government’s initiative, he said, “The regular process of deportation involves time, sometimes detention and with the grace period those were waived. We do appreciate this program that was extended to expatriates by Qatar government.”
He advised those who did not take advantage of the amnesty to approach the embassy instead of waiting to avoid further problems. With regard to the embassy’s consular section, he said the embassy has been exerting efforts for faster and efficient consular services specifically by shortening the releasing time of documents and adjusting the timing.
It now takes two days the most for some documents to be released from the previous three to five days, while they are trying their best to release attestations within an hour from previous processing time of four to five hours, he explained.
“We do understand that the image of the embassy is dependent to the consular section, that is why we do our very best to render faster and more efficient service. In line with this, we also launched the “Embassy on Wheels” consular outreach programme in which we conduct a series of missions in different localities in Qatar to bring our services closer to Filipinos,” he said.
On a daily basis, the embassy processes 100 to 120 passports, 150 notarials and attestations and 40 NBI clearances. He advised his compatriots to renew their passports early and not wait till the expiration date.
The coming year will see the embassy conduct more consular outreach missions which will involve the entire consular section including the ATN, POLO, SSS and Pag-IBIG as well as overseas absentee voters registration for the 2019 elections. The ATN, on the other hand, will enhance its presence conducting more visits. On his message to the Filipino community, “Do not hesitate to approach the Embassy when needed. We are here to help. For this coming year we do hope that every member of the community takes care of themselves.”
Hosted by UFOQ Chairman Ressie S Fos and GMA 7 correspondent Manny Flores, last Tuesday’s show, which was already viewed more than 6,400 times, was the fourth episode of the public service programme for Overseas Filipinos in Qatar.
