IT HAS been years since I stepped foot at the office of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). When my best friend invited me to attend her wedding in Singapore this year, I was ecstatic. Honestly, I was nervous just thinking of the trip with my new travel buddy, my two-year-old toddler, Mico. I was too excited to plan things ahead for our first travel abroad that I neglected to check for all the required documents.
I did not expect getting a passport for a toddler would be super tedious. First, there was the online enrollment. There were questions which I think were unnecessary to fill up. For a single mom like me, I would hesitate to fill up a question on whether my toddler is a legitimate child or an illegitimate one. If you strictly put it by law, he is a natural child because I am his biological mother. However, because I am unmarried, he becomes an illegitimate child. There were only two options and answering the question was one of the most poignant moments I’ve had.
Then there was the schedule for appointment which was confusing for me because the website noted that I only had at least 20 minutes to hold the schedule. But it took me years to finish filling up everything!
Fortunately, I got a Saturday appointment which I was very thankful because Saturdays are the only days that I can have enough time for government transactions like this.
When the appointment date came and I had two kids to go with me at the DFA, you can just imagine what I had to go through. Even I could not believe that I have survived. First the guard would not give me a priority number until it was only about 30 minutes before the scheduled appointment. So we had to wait for a few more minutes (years to be exact!)
It was also at the DFA that I found out that there was an additional requirement for traveling with minors – the affidavit of support. I was referred to a desk where I can obtain the affidavit for a fee of P300. I was not sure if I had read that the additional required document was an affidavit of support. Had I known it, I could have gotten the document outside the government agency probably at a cheaper rate.
Then my toddler started running around. I had to follow him everywhere until my name was called.
Good thing I had every document photocopied so I was confident that everything was okay at the processing department. But my name was the only name called by the cashier when it was time for payment. Mico’s name was not called. When I asked at the desk, I was told that I would just wait for a while because his documents probably got separated.
At the payment counter, I was also told that the automatic fee for a Saturday appointment was the one for express processing which was at P1, 200 instead of P950. I was stunned for a while and had nothing to do but get that extra thousand from my pocket. Again, I was not sure if I had read through that announcement online because I was sure had read everything, checking every detail again and again so I would not miss out on anything.
When it was time for encoding where I had to sit and smile at the camera, I was already tired of repeatedly getting Mico from different spots from the rows of benches. That was also the time that I asked the desk again, this time at the encoding department that my toddler’s name was not yet called. I was hoping we would have our pictures taken together.
His documents, however, were stuck at the processing department, the encoding staff said. We had to wait for at least 30 minutes more to finish the process.
When Mico’s name was finally called, he was already playing around with a messy collared shirt and filthy pair of pants. When he was told to sit on a box place on the chair, he got scared and ran away from the desk. He was adamantly saying no to every request I made. There were so many people and I was already getting really tired.
Good thing that when I finally had the chance to sit down, one of the staff was very quick on taking the photo and in a flash, my toddler had his picture. With a stapler on his hand near the camera lens, the encoding staff got my toddler’s attention. Mico was surprisingly attracted and started looking at the lens.
I just have to commend especially the encoding staff for having all that patience in taking pictures of children. The office seems to have everything there and applicants do not need to go out. A photocopier is at the ready and a desk for an affidavit of support is also there.
However, I would like to suggest and I hope that DFA will consider this. Applicants with children should be prioritized especially since kids these days do not really have that much patience. I also hope that they omit questions that I feel are not necessary. Being a legitimate or illegitimate child does not really matter. It is not a crime really.
Whew! At last, we finally got out of the office. It was a total relief.
I am especially relieved that I would just have to wait for the scheduled date to claim our passports.