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The Department of Foreign Affairs here in Davao City caters only to 200 passport applicants everyday which is further broken down into 3 batches. The first batch is consist of 70 applicants who will have their papers processed in the morning; the second batch in the afternoon and the last batch that will be accommodated to from 4pm to 9pm in the evening. I learned about this because I accompanied my cousin just this morning at the DFA for her passport application.

My cousin has really wanted to process her papers with a travel agency but her mother has strictly instructed her to go through the process of DFA “para maranasan ninyo ang hirap”. Ouch! The process is really a pain in the neck. We woke up at 4am this morning and arrived at the DFA around 5 in the morning. We were actually surprised to realize that there are already more than 70 people waiting at the DFA. A few of them even slept there overnight and just rented out folding beds so they will be able to get one of those valuable 200 priority numbers. My cousin is still at the DFA right now processing her passport.

Applying for a passport and going abroad to work is evidently not an easy process. Nevertheless, many Filipinos continue to go overseas to find greener pastures. Maybe it is time that the government will maximize its effort in promoting entrepreneurship in the country.