The ‘new normal’ in the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Dubai and the Northern office is for the safety of people, an envoy explained.
As part of the new normal in the PCG, every service they are offering is now required to get an appointment online in an effort to mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Obviously, everyone here has to come to the consulate with face shield, masks and gloves,” Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes told The Global Filipino Magazine, adding that pre-Covid-19, they can accommodate 600 to 700 Filipinos for a period of eight hours daily.
He further explained that the ‘new normal’ was imposed not because they want less people to come in but it’s for everyone’s safety.
“It’s not because we want to have less people coming in, of course we don’t love that, but it’s for the safety of people. We do not want a crowd to come in. We don’t want 300 people to come at one point here sharing a small space which obviously defeats the purpose of social distancing.
An appointment system was made to be used for every service to control the number of people that are coming in the PCG.
Just recently, the PCG has announced a new business timing amid the pandemic.
The following services will be only be available from Sunday to Wednesday, 8am to 4:30am:
-Passport Processing
-Civil Registration (Birth)
-Civil Registration (Marriage)
-Civil Registration (Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage / Solemnization of Marriage at the Consulate)
-Civil Registration (Repatriation of Remains)
-Notarization of Legal Documents
Meanwhile, below services will be available from 8am to 5pm:
-Passport Releasing
-Assistance-to-Nationals
Clients with appointments on a Thursday in the months of June and July can come to the Consulate at ‘any day and any time within the business day/hours of the month of their original appointment.’
