MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos in Queensland are asking the Philippine government to offer all the consular services in its foreign service post there to better serve migrant Filipinos working and studying in northeastern Australia.
Rodolfo "Jun" Licera Jr., founder of the Filipinos in Queensland Australia Facebook Group, is leading the petition addressed to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Canberra.
"We already have a consulate here," Licera told Philstar.com in a mix of English and Filipino during an interview on Wednesday. "But they are not doing the full service, like passport renewals or applications for dual citizenship."
SBS Filipino, a radio program for the Filipino community by public broadcaster SBS, first featured the group's petition in a radio show earlier this week.
Two Filipino groups have petitioned for the full services in the consulate, including Licera's informal online community. Filipino-Australian Foundation of Queensland also sent its petition to Philippine Congress.
As of writing, the online petition has 2,769 signatories. Licera said not all Filipinos sense the urgency or the importance of having a consulate within the state until they really need those services.
Earlier this week, the DFA and the Department of Information and Communications Technology inked a Memorandum of Understanding to kickstart the digitization of the Philippine consular services, including passport services, visas, and apostile.
The press release on the agreement did not give further details.
Taking drives or waiting for missions
Queensland is the second-largest state in Australia and Licera said is home to over 70,000 Filipinos. The Philippines reopened its consulate in Brisbane in August last year, with lawyer Sheryll Gabutero appointed as an honorary consul.
However, Licera said the last time he spoke to someone from the Philippine Embassy, they told him the state should have at least 81,000 Filipino migrants "to justify" a full coverage of services.
For now, Filipinos based in Queensland travel either to the consulate in Sydney or the embassy in Canberra to process documents for passport renewal or for dual citizenship applications.
A drive to the consulate in Sydney takes 12 hours, but other Queensland residents go to Canberra or Melbourne for their documents as well.
While foreign service posts do hold consular missions to far-flung areas, these can only serve around 400 to 500 people a year.
"That’s not enough. If you cannot do that every year, they need to do more than one mission," LIcera said. "At least, maybe a minimum of five to six missions to accommodate Filipinos in Queensland."