The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be rolling out four more vans to support its ‘Passport on Wheels’ program.
In a statement, DFA said the vans arrived on May 4 and will be deployed to “distant cities and towns” once equipment are tested and personnel have been properly trained.
The vans are expected to be used on May 18.
“DFA will continue to exert all efforts to make passport services accessible to our people wherever they are in the country,” DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.
Each van, also called a mega van, has five Data Capturing Machines which can process up to 500 applications.
“With the additional units, the number of passport applications that can be accommodated daily is increased by 4,000,” Cayetano added..
The DFA is also expecting two more vans by June.
The Passport on Wheels program was introduced in January and has served 82 cities, municipalities, offices and organizations in Northern Luzon, including Ilocos, to Mindanao including Davao City.
Based on records, the program has served 94,422 passport applicants from January 15 to April 30.
