A few months ago, I found out that my passport was again about to expire and thought, since I was in the Philippines on a holiday, I might as well apply for a renewal. This should have been an easy and straightforward process and can even be made online or on the mail as I use to in the past. However, annoying of all annoying, I found out that I couldn’t do it that way. I was told that since I will be using my passport for travel abroad and that I am married to a foreign national, I must register with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and attend the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS).

I was informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs to go to a designated seminar hall/building somewhere in Manila, attend the seminar, get guidance and counseling and come back to them with a certificate of attendance/completion of some sort. Although I really didn’t want to go, turns out I had to if I wanted to get a new passport.

Here’s what I found out in the CFO website:

“Filipino emigrants or those leaving the country to settle permanently abroad are required to register with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). Part of its registration requirements is attendance in the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) to prepare them for settlement overseas. Those who are 12 years old and below are exempt from attending the PDOS. They must, however, be registered, even if by proxy. Children of emigrants, aged 13 to 19, are required to attend the Peer Counseling Program to help facilitate their adjustment to a new environment.”

This all didn’t make sense to me because I have been married to my British husband for five years now, have lived in the United Kingdom for 2 years, 2 years in Singapore and a year in Malaysia. Obviously, I do not need to go through a seminar or counseling on how to live abroad with my husband. The Commission’s main purpose is to curb trafficking of Filipinas going abroad on a pretense of being married to a foreigner. This is all good but I think they should define their guidelines a bit better.

When I attended the seminar, not even considering the filthy office they held it in, they showed us clips of Filipinas being maltreated by their foreign husbands abroad and were repeatedly asked whether we know what we were getting ourselves into; reiterating the fact that we are not marrying our own kind, and there’s so much difference. I mean, what was that??? Ok there are some Filipinas who meet bad fate abroad, but this is in the minority as compared to those whose life were very much improved by a good and meaningful relationships.

When we got to the “counseling stage” it became a bit funny since they really couldn’t find anything to counsel me about. I ended up telling them about what living is like abroad (since obviously a lot of the people in that office have not been out of the country). How credible could a speaker be if they do not have first hand information about the topic? I somehow feel like this is another bureaucratic step from our government again. The seminar was really of no help to me. The certificate they gave me (which they said would be asked everytime I go through Philippine immigration) is really useless. It sits in my closet and I have never ever been asked for it on any of my travels. I come home to the Philippines almost every quarter and not once have I been asked for such certificate.

This seminar might be helpful to Filipinas who have never been out of the country who might need guidance and counseling. However to require those who are already living abroad with their husbands seems like an act in futility.