Shoes for hire outside Philippine consulate - Dubai

Shoes for hire outside Philippine consulate

Illegal cabbies cash in on rule that forbids visitors from entering the consulate in flip-flops by offering shoes for hire. Rentals start from Dh20

• Image Credit: Jay B. Hilotin/XPRESS
• Pairs of shoes in the car boot of an illegal private cab outside the Phillipine consulate in Dubai and, inset, an XPRESS reporter wearing the ‘hired’ trainers.

• Image Credit: Jay B. Hilotin/XPRESS
• A visitor, left, being denied entry for wearing flip flops and the dress code, right.

DUBAI: A little-known rule requiring visitors to the Philippine Consulate in Dubai to be dressed appropriately — no shorts and flip-flops — is generating windfall profits for illegal private taxi operators who rent out shoes for between Dh20 and Dh50 for the duration of the visit.

The illegal cabbies offer the service to male visitors applying for passport renewal or getting documents authenticated.

Rod, a Dubai-based Filipino aviation executive, alerted XPRESS about the practice after a visit to the consulate on Thursday.

"These people are minting money off people who are unaware about the dress code," said Rod, who came to the consulate in his BeachWalk slippers. Rod, however, grabbed the Dh30 rental offer to save time and money: it would cost more to bring his own shoes from his Al Baraha flat.

To check the complaint, this reporter wore white sandals on Monday, but was barred from entering the consulate gate at 9.45am. One of the Nepalese security guards said I could rent a pair of shoes from one of the "guys" outside the gate. He called a certain "boy". Then the haggling began. It turned out that the rent depends on the distance between the consulate and the customer's house and day of the week. "So where do you live?" ‘boy' asked me. "Al Quoz," I said. "Then it's Dh25," he said. "No, Dh20," I tried haggling. "OK. I'm just trying to help you. Just return the pair to the car after you're done, even if I'm not here."

Further probing revealed a whole bunch of shoes-for-hire men working outside the consulate. They keep the pairs ready in their car boot parked in a nearby sand patch. Over two days, XPRESS saw numerous Filipino men wearing slippers being flagged down at the gate. The guards point to an overhead notice that says "shorts and slippers are not allowed".

Benito Valeriano, the Philippine Consul General to Dubai, told XPRESS that their dress code simply follows the rules of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). "I've observed that some Filipinos who come to the consulate have complete disregard for the institution," said Valeriano. "They come in ‘Puruntong' (Bermuda shorts) and flip-flops. They wouldn't wear that kind of dress while visiting other government institutions."

The dress code, posted on DFA's website, was first implemented in Manila in May 2010. Reports have it that women who come in sleeveless or spaghetti-strap tops are barred from entering DFA's Manila facility.

Nhel Morona, an official of the Migrante NGO group, said private guards must face disciplinary action if their ties with the illegal cabbies are proven. "Even if the dress code rule was posted on the DFA website, not everyone has access to the web. And Filipinos in the UAE only go to the consulate once or twice a year; so it's not easy to get updates," he said.

Matt Bagunu, acting head of the Filipino Community (Filcom), which groups 60 organisations in the UAE, said: "We accept that a public office needs a dress code... But that's more of an appeal, rather than an absolute rule. It's one thing to have a dress code, but it's quite another if it's being enforced strictly for private gain."

As for the shoes-for-hire guys, Valeriano said: "For security reasons, only those with legitimate business are allowed inside the consulate compound."

Source: Gulf News 

Passport delay sours honeymoon

Patricio, a Filipino IT executive in Dubai, blames passport snags for his prolonged bachelorhood

DUBAI: Patricio, a Filipino IT executive in Dubai, blames passport snags for his prolonged bachelorhood.

The 34-year-old man got married in the Philippines in December, but has been unable to start his married life in Dubai due to the long wait for his wife's passport. "We have gone through the formalities so my wife could join me here soon," said Patricio, whose wife is a teacher.

Patricio fell ill during their honeymoon week and had to fly back to Dubai as his one-month vacation was already over. After his wife went through the trouble of having their marriage certificates attested, Riza applied for her passport on March 15. And though she paid for a "rush" passport processing (10 working days), she was told it would take 43 days. Worse, when the April 28 scheduled release date came, Riza was told her passport wouldn't be available for another two weeks. "This is frustrating, but all I can do is wait," he said.

The Philippine law bans outsourcing of passport processing.

Rosie, a Dubai retail executive, applied for a new passport for her son Ronald, a high school student, on March 9. He is expected to get his passport on June 8. They had to ditch plans for Ronald's visit to Dubai in April as a result of the passport glitch. School starts in June in the Philippines.

"A huge country like India can process passport applications in a week or two, I don't understand why we Filipinos must endure this three-month wait," she said.

According to Manila's Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), technical snags and an "unprecedented number" of passport applicants mean that Filipinos now have to wait for at least three months to renew their passport.

Philippine consular officials in Dubai have said the wait for a new passport will be longer and those who need to travel on an urgent basis must apply for a one-year extension only.

In Dubai, the Philippine Consulate accepts up to 230 passport renewal applications daily. Printing of the Philippines' biometric passports is done centrally at the Bangko Sentral facilities in Manila. On May 6, DFA said it will process 500 more passports daily in a bid to curb delays. The Office of Consular Affairs in Manila is now open on Saturdays too. These measures will raise the monthly production of passports from 88,000 to 106,000. The DFA issued 1,583,183 passports in 2010.

Around 10 per cent of the over 90 million Filipino population work overseas.

Snags

The Philippine government will extend (for free in Manila) up to one year the validity of passports that are about to expire if applicants have to travel on an urgent basis.

Manila charges $21.40 (Dh79) for regular processing of a passport (20 days); $28 (Dh103) for "rush" (10 days) passports. Diplomatic missions charge $60 (Dh220) for applications.

Source: Gulf News

Philippine Consulate gets fair rating from clients

Dubai: The move to combine the Philippine Consulate and the Philippine Overseas Labour Office under one roof in Al Ghusais received mixed reactions from Filipino expatriates as well as of other nationalities on its opening day yesterday.

Those who flocked to the consular offices lauded the effort, but said there is still more to be done.

The serpentine queues, which used to be a common sight outside the consulate, were no longer there. People were made to queue inside the building.

Web designer Ahmad Robledo said: "It's understandable that people are being made to wait because they have just started operations today." He said that the offices are now easier to locate because of the Philippine flag outside the consulate.

"Although the place is more spacious, there are no designated areas for us to fill out our application forms. We end up doing it outside," said Mary Grace, a manicurist.

More efficient in India

Cary, 48, an Indian who is marrying a Filipina, said the services of the Philippine Consulate in India is more efficient than in Dubai.

"The Philippine Consulate in India is faster than here because when I applied for a visa there, it only took four days. Here, it took 15 days," he said.

Visas requested from the Philippine Consulate in Dubai regularly take three to five working days to be processed.

Consul General Benito Valeriano said: "We are doing everything to make the services efficient but it can't be done overnight. The number of people we served today is three times the regular crowd."

Both halls were full of people earlier in the day. Each hall can accommodate 300 people at one time.

Some Filipinos also complained about the lack of computerised system for data processing.

"Filling out information sheets takes time, encoding it also takes time. Since our passports are now machine readable, they can just have it scanned and have our data ready right away," said J.B., an engineer who has been working in Dubai for the past five years.

Labour Attache Amilbahar Amilasan said application forms are available online and can be downloaded from their website to save on time.

Budget constraints

As for the computerised system, he said: "How we wish we can have a computerised system here in Dubai. We are already looking into that to save us time and paper, but we are operating on a limited budget here."

In the consulate, there are three working computers designated for data encoding for passports.

Valeriano has requested for additional budget and manpower from the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.

The consulate currently has 27 staff while the labour office has 15.

Source: Gulf News