Consular services to be free of 'fixers'
Published on: Thursday, January 12, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is finalising the schedules for consular services in Sabah.Hence, Filipinos who need to renew passports and other consular documentations are strongly advised to wait for the official announcement of the scheduled consular trips to Sabah anytime soon."It's just a matter of time before the announcement will be made in our Facebook account," an Embassy staff told Daily Express, Wednesday.ADVERTISEMENT The staff said Kota Kinabalu will be given priority before the consular team will continue its services to other parts in the State like Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna, Keningau and others areas."Our consular services will continue to be carried out all year round as and when the need arises upon request from the local authorities and Filipino communities," the staff added.Filipinos are advised to ensure that their supporting documents are updated and complete to avoid unnecessary problems when securing the services from the visiting embassy staff.It would also continue to strictly observe orderliness and proper system. ADVERTISEMENT "We will make sure that the consular services will be free of fixers or runners (middlemen) and carried out smoothly...every applicant will be treated with respect and without delays," the officer assured.Meanwhile, several Filipinos here hope the Embassy would publicise the schedule of the consular team in local newspapers, TV and radio because not all Filipinos can access the official Facebook account of the embassy," they said.
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Some relatives of paperless Filipinos detained at holding centres here also claimed that deportation exercises are now delayed due to the absence of the Embassy's consular team to issue deportation certificates." We hope the Embassy will immediately look into the matter in order for them to be able to return home before the Chinese New Year celebration at the end of this month," they said.They also hoped the Embassy would help speed up the resumption of the Sandakan-Zamboanga weekly ferry services.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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They said the resumption of the ferry services will greatly help Filipino passengers cut cost when returning back to their respective homes in the Philippines.Filipinos wishing to return home has no choice but to use the air services from Kota Kinabalu to Manila which they said was hurting their pockets.