Twenty-five (25) personnel of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) handling consular, administrative, and financial work – and in the future may be assigned as consular attachés at Foreign Service Posts – completed the Foreign Service Institute’s (FSI’s) Consular Assistants Course (CAC) 2021.
Course participants were personnel from the Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Affairs, Undersecretary for Administration, Consular Affairs, United Nations and International Organizations, ASEAN Affairs, Office of Policy Planning and Coordination, Internal Audit Service, Human Resources Management Office, Office of Asset Management and Support Service, Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Office of Protocol, and the Consular Offices of NCR Central, NCR South, Dasmariñas, San Nicolas, Tacloban, and Dumaguete.
CAC 2021 was conducted by FSI’s Carlos P. Romulo School of Diplomacy – Functional and Transition Programs Section from 08 to 19 November 2021 to provide Department personnel with appropriate and relevant training to enhance their consular skills and knowledge to serve clients in a more efficient capacity.
The Course covered relevant information on consular matters and services, such as Civil Registry, Authentication, Visa, Passport, Citizenship, and Overseas Voting; topics on skills and techniques on satisfactory consular services; and the rules and procedures on frontline services rendered to cater the needs of Filipinos and foreign nationals in the Philippines and abroad.
The series of lectures and the sharing of experiences from both the resource persons and the participants allowed a more engaging atmosphere for learning, transfer of knowledge and practical advice, most especially in handling consular cases. The sessions on legal service with mini-workshops enabled the participants to practice preparing draft depositions, notarizations, and other legal documents. To cap the Course, panel discussions were held as a forum for other government institutions to promote their respective programs in serving overseas Filipinos.
