Hello from Kota Kinabalu! This isn’t what you might expect here but I just wanted to use this one blog post in helping spread the word so here’s a quickie announcement:

Husband and I, along with a team from the Philippine Embassy, arrived yesterday and today was their consular mission’s first day. It was a pretty good turn out and we are expecting more Filipinos to come tomorrow and the next couple of days.

To our dear brothers and sisters in Malaysia, if you’re a Filipino in Sabah or if you’re someone who just happened to end up in this little blog of mine and you know Filipinos in the Kota Kinabalu area who are in need of consular services (passport application, renewals, passport validity extensions, etc), do let them know that the embassy team will be at the Dewan Majlis Perkhidmatan Masyarakat Sabah, Jalan Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu until October 3, 2014. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 5pm.

Click here for a map to the place.

We need all the help we can get in disseminating the information as some of the undocumented Filipinos here in Sabah do not have access to the internet. Some are plantation workers born in Sabah to undocumented parents. They never had access to education so they cannot read nor write (that’s why some of them need assistance in filling out forms). It’s really a sad situation so the embassy is doing its best to reach out to them to give them passports – and in the process, identities as well.

While there are accredited agencies that they can pay for consultation (which documents are needed) and can help them in filling out their forms, the fees might be too steep for some of them. We are willing to help applicants accomplish the forms for free and we can also tell them what they need for a passport (at least a birth certificate and other supporting documents that will prove that you are really Filipino). For questions, they can send an SMS or call the Embassy through +(6017) 347-5487.

Thank you! If this post actually helps even just one Filipino in Sabah learn about the services and save on money by going to the Embassy personnel directly, I would be extremely happy. They can use the money they save for food and other essentials!

I’m basically just tagging along as I’m not an official part of the team but I am looking forward to giving my assistance in whichever way I can – like helping some of the applicants who are having trouble in filling up their forms. I also learned how to encode passport information today so just in case anyone needs a sub, I’ll be ready! 😉

Please, please help spread the word.

Back to regular programming in the next post. 😉

Love,

Carol

September 22, 2014
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