How to Get Your DOST Final Clearance Without Visiting Manila
No diploma, no trip to Manila. Here’s how I got my DOST final clearance by email and picked it up in Cebu — a guide for fellow DOST scholars.
The first hurdle was my diploma. I had gone through the whole process of retrieving it from NORSU, and that experience had been its own separate headache. When I asked around among co-scholars about what documents were needed for the clearance, the answer was consistent: I needed the diploma. Osric, who actually took the time to call me, confirmed the same — DOST Dumaguete would require it.
But I wasn’t ready to accept that as the only path forward.
I spent a few hours going through blogs from other scholars and eventually found a post that mentioned something different: you could email DOST National directly, attach your Certificate of Employment and a letter of request, and they would process it from there. I decided to try it.
After about a week with no response, I sent a follow-up. A few days later, I found out the clearance was ready — I just needed to bring the original copies of my documents to pick it up.
The next problem was that it was in Manila. I couldn’t afford to take time off and spend money on a trip just for that, so I asked if they could forward the documents to the nearest regional office instead. They agreed to send it to Cebu, which was manageable. I called DOST Cebu after a week to confirm, and the documents were already there waiting for me. They didn’t even ask me to bring anything to claim it.
I left for Cebu the next day, went to their office in Sudlon, and that was it. After all that back and forth, it was surprisingly straightforward at the end.
If you’re a DOST scholar trying to do the same thing, this is how I did it:
Send your final clearance request to DOST National with your COE and a letter of request attached. Address the letter to the Director, Dr. Filma G. Brawner.
Email: seischolarships@gmail.com Fax: (02) 839-0086 Phone: (02) 837-1333 or (02) 839-0083 — follow up after three working days if you haven’t heard back.
If you can’t make it to the National Office in Manila, you can request to have the documents forwarded to the nearest DOST Regional Office. For reference, DOST Cebu is in Sudlon, along with other government regional offices. You can reach them at (032) 418-9055.
Note: This post is from 2013, so contact details and processes may have changed. It’s worth calling ahead to confirm before sending anything.
With the DOST clearance done, the next step was the NBI clearance — and that came with its own surprises. Read about it in Part 2: Getting My NBI Clearance as a DOST Scholar (2013).
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