Filipino Consulates to Issue ID Cards
Filipino Express, News Report, Rita Villadiego, Posted: Dec 19, 2004
NEW YORK -- Encouraged by the popularity of Mexican consular identification cards, the matrícular consular, Philippine consulates in the United States will start issuing similar ID cards to Filipinos in 2005.
The move is long-awaited by many undocumented Filipinos who could not open a bank account and who live in deprivation since they have come to the United States.
“It will be voluntary. It could help a lot of Filipinos,” said Consul General Cecilia Rebong. She said the issuance of the ID card would be advantageous to Filipinos so they can open a bank account, be accepted in hospitals and have proper identification with police officers.
Rebong said all seven Philippine Consulates in the U.S. will issue the ID cards next year. She met with her counterpart official from the Mexican Consulate and learned of the many benefits of the consular ID cards.
The cards will help the Philippine government to keep track of its citizens for consular, tax and census purposes and to provide a verifiable form of identification for Filipinos in the United States. The formal announcement on the issuance of cards will be given by the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.
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