A regional consular office of the Department of Foreign Affairs will soon open in Dumaguete City, as the agency has already prepositioned manpower and resources for it, DFA Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said yesterday.

He was in Dumaguete for a forum on the West Philippine Sea. He said he visited the proposed regional consular office at the Robinsons Mall Wednesday and announced some “good news” when asked why it took awhile for the office to become operational.

Jose said the office is almost ready to commence operation, with furnishings, computers and other equipment already in place.

In fact, Tita Rebollos was named the regional consular officer and was with him and his party during his visit. Rebollos hails from Dipolog City, speaks the Cebuano dialect, and has been with the DFA for 28 years.

The consular office will be manned by 15 people, to include Rebollos, Jose added. Majority of them will be from Dumaguete, although they have already trained with the RCO in Bacolod City, he said.

However, there are still some internal matters that need to be ironed out before the DFA office in Dumaguete becomes operational.

The announcement came as the two provinces of Negros, through their Technical Working Groups, have started discussing the salient points for the one island region as declared by President Benigno Aquino III recently.

Although there is already an existing DFA regional consular office in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, the one being proposed in Dumaguete will still push through, Jose said, adding this is because the DFA and the mall operators have already signed an agreement to that effect.

He also clarified that the DFA still caters requests from local government units for the holding of mobile passport services.*JFP

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