BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: After 17 years in its current location the Philippine embassy is moving to a new chancery come January 2, the Philippine mission announced recently.
In a circular issued earlier this month, Ambassador Crescente R Relacion cited the increasing number of Filipinos as the main reason for the shift to a new chancery which would be located on Street No. 860, Zone 68, Jelaiah Area.
“The transfer of the chancery to its new location is to accommodate the increasing number of Filipinos in Qatar,” says the circular.
“The current embassy was leased 17 years ago when the population of Filipinos in Qatar was around 40,000 to 45,000,” Consul Gilbert L Segarra, Charge d’Affaires, told The Peninsula yesterday, adding the population of Filipinos has now reached to approximately 200,000.
Both the current and the future embassies have an area of 1,200 sq m but the usable area of the new chancery is far bigger which is set to accommodate more people availing of the embassy’s services.
“There would be separate areas for processing and encoding which would both have big halls as waiting areas,” said Consul Segarra of the new embassy. In the present embassy, processing and encoding sections are located in one office.
In addition, there would also be a hall allocated as waiting area for the releasing section, a space for civil registry and a multi-purpose hall on the top floor of the building.
Asked if more staff would be hired, he said the Embassy already had additional four staff this year due to the closure of 10 Philippine embassies and consulates around the world.
On plans to integrate the Philippine Embassy, Philippine Overseas Labour Office and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration under one roof so it would be a one-stop shop, he said there had been plans but had not so far materialised due to budgetary constraints.
“It depends on the decision of the Philippine government, and hopefully this would come true in the future,” he said.
Due to the process of transfer to the new location there would be a halt on transactions at the present Embassy’s location in West Bay this coming Wednesday and Thursday, however it is open to the public today though it is supposed to be a Philippine public holiday.
The new chancery will officially start service to the public on January 2. The Peninsula
