An estimated 1,500 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Eastern Province jam-packed last weekend the ‘Embassy on Wheels', the platform of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, that provides services such as passport renewals and authentication of documents. The ‘Embassy on Wheels' visited Al-Khobar last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to process passport renewals and authenticate documents of OFWs in the region. The visit, the first since February this year, also introduced the processing of machine readable passports. On the first day, over 400 passport applications were processed, although the daily capacity is only 300 applications, according to embassy officials. Because of the surge of applicants for new passports, embassy officials transferred the venue following day to the auditorium of the International Philippine School in Al-Khobar, which has bigger space. “Our capacity is only 300 passports, yet we accepted 400. During first and second days, we processed 800 passport applications and have to re-schedule the other applications in our next visits or within few weeks if we are able to find a suitable venue,” said Consul Romulo Victor Israel, head of the ‘Embassy on Wheels' team. “We were simply overwhelmed by this large number of applicants,” he said. Consul Israel said the embassy was trying its best to cope with the big number of applicants. “The huge turnout was unexpected; we were overwhelmed,” he added. He said the reasons for the big turn out of OFWs are the new rule that requires personal appearance to apply for a new passport and elimination of agencies that submit bundles of passports for renewal. “In the past, agencies providing passport renewal were accommodated to submit as many numbers of applications. Before, applicants were not also required to be present,” Israel said. Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor and Labor Attaché Rustico dela Fuente, Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, also came down to the Eastern Province to oversee the ‘Embassy on Wheels' service. Villamor, realizing the difficulties faced by OFWs in renewing their passports, plans to hold another ‘Embassy on Wheels' in Jubail on August 14-15 and on August 28-29 in Al Khobar to accommodate those not served, according to Israel. He said the service is also looking at areas to visit where there are large concentrations of Filipino workers, like workers' camps. Most OFWs understood the difficulties faced by staff of the ‘Embassy on Wheels,' who were supported by community volunteers. A number of OFWs, nevertheless, expressed frustration on the service of the ‘Embassy on Wheels' last weekend. Joel Villarento from Al-Khobar and Ronald Biantam from Dammam, who came to renew their passports, said they were at the IPSA premises as early at six in the morning but were not complaining. “This is life, sacrifice is needed; it is all for our families back home. The embassy is doing its best,” Villarento and Biantam said Ricardo Bonus, a company executive, clutching an almost crumpled envelope, was at the end of a long line waiting to reach a Philippine Embassy official processing special power of attorney document. He said everything was a mess. “I was here since eight in the morning; it is almost 12 noon now and yet this line is not moving,” he said. “The problem is that the whole thing is not organized; there are no signs to indicate which line is for passports or for documentation. It is a mess.” Although he was early, Bonus said he was directed by compatriots to obtain numbers and receipts from whom he did not know. By the time he got all the needed documents, he found himself again at the tail of the line. Rolando Epleyo, a computer technician who traveled some 150 kms from Jubail, said renewing passport is one of the sacrifices OFWs have to endure. “I hope this passport renewing thing could be made easier for us,” he said. OFWs who renewed their passports last weekend have to wait for one month before they can get their machine readable passports because the applications are sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila for final processing and forwarded again to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh for distribution to the holders. __
