The Philippine Consulate General in the region has re-commenced its consular services on Sundays, after several Filipino associations demanded its service to operate on weekends.
The consulate, including its attached agencies, will operate on Sundays for a trial period lasting until the end of 2016.
Several associations in the region had called for the consulate to provide services on Sundays due to a majority of the community having time available at this point of the week.
Early this year, the consulate documented its dialogue with some members of Migrante Macau and sent it to Manila. The document requesting for the Consulate to open on Sundays included 2,832 signatures from Filipinos in the region.
The Times visited the embassy yesterday and several Filipinos said they are pleased that the consulate had finally heeded to their long-time request.
“The opening of the consulate on Sundays is such a big help to our fellow. It’s now similar to the [Filipino] consulate in Hong Kong which is also open on Sundays” said one resident.
“Sundays are the only chance for the [domestic] workers to seek services from the consulate. Most of the workers have no time during weekdays,” said another.
Although a few were unaware that the Sunday operation is only on trial, many hoped that the embassy would continue to serve the Filipino community during the weekend.
Meanwhile, Migrante Macau president Emerlina de Lina said the association is “very happy,” however she noted that they are quite disappointed that the new arrangement is not permanent.
“We’re really trying our best to prove that there are several workers that need their services on Sundays,” she explained.
“People just kept coming, non-
stop, from morning until afternoon so it’s not true that the demand for their services is low on the weekend.”
The Philippines’ Consul General in the region, Lilybeth Deapera previously said that the consulate opened its doors on Sundays a few years ago, but only a few local Filipino migrants requested services over the weekend.
She also explained in a previous report that the green light to operate on Sundays is obtained from the Philippine’s Department of Foreign Affairs.
Depending on the outcome of the three-month trial period, Deapera told TDM they would consult with authorities from Manila to decide whether its operations on Sundays should be permanent.
However, de Lina said Macau-based Filipino associations would continually organize petitions and dialogues in the event that the consulate decides to end the arrangement this year.
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