How to get a passport in Cebu when all appointments are closed?

[Balamban 113]

My fiance needs a Philippine passport.  I know that it used to be "go to Cebu City at 3:30 in the morning and get in line."

 

That has been changed and now a national is required to make the appointment and pre-print out the form online. It's quite a slick website and works perfectly except for a few things.  First there are zero appointment openings in Cebu, all are taken or unavailable.  A month ago this was the same.  I had hoped it would be "fixed" somehow, silly me.  So we have made an appointment at Dumaguette (the next big island) near the end of July.  I'm glad that I looked into this as it's a two month wait for the appointment and I'm told it can take 6 weeks for the passport to reach you.

 

Might anyone from Cebu know, is this normal?  Is there anyway around it or are there really no openings. 

 

Note: I know that, though illegal, some entities have grabbed appointments and offer to sell them, that's creepy enough but one would hope that somehow the government would put an end to that, and I thought the new online program did exactly that.

 

Anyone from Cebu know?

[Redheadguy03 505]

33 minutes ago, Balamban said:

My fiance needs a Philippine passport.  I know that it used to be "go to Cebu City at 3:30 in the morning and get in line."

 

That has been changed and now a national is required to make the appointment and pre-print out the form online. It's quite a slick website and works perfectly except for a few things.  First there are zero appointment openings in Cebu, all are taken or unavailable.  A month ago this was the same.  I had hoped it would be "fixed" somehow, silly me.  So we have made an appointment at Dumaguette (the next big island) near the end of July.  I'm glad that I looked into this as it's a two month wait for the appointment and I'm told it can take 6 weeks for the passport to reach you.

 

Might anyone from Cebu know, is this normal?  Is there anyway around it or are there really no openings. 

 

Note: I know that, though illegal, some entities have grabbed appointments and offer to sell them, that's creepy enough but one would hope that somehow the government would put an end to that, and I thought the new online program did exactly that.

 

Anyone from Cebu know?

It's not a cebu thing it's a Philippines thing. Appointments are booked way in advance. A lot of the slots are indeed "sold" and you have to buy them from people with money under the table. It's pretty crazy, but it definitely still exists. 

 

The appointments are usually booked a couple months out, so you have to wait or maybe you'll get lucky. If you know someone who works there that you can usually get in,but otherwise you just have to wait. 

[Balamban 113]

Thanks.  Such a sad thing, the old "wait in line at 3am was better...

We did manage to do it, near the end of July, by going to the next island, in case that helps others.

 

I have watched and as new months go by they are filled instantly, so Cebu passports make the entire K1 process look simple...ha.