At your service
I began my quest to get the name on my birth certificate corrected (my first name is spelled SUZETT) last week. I found out from the NSO personnel who conducted a 5 minute talk during our pre-Civil ceremony seminar last year that because of RA 9048, the City or Municipal Civil Registrar now has the authority to correct a clerical or typographical error in the civil register in the Philippines. I wanted to do this now to avoid any problems when we get our official notice from immigration.
Fully confident that I had prepared all the requirements in the checklist given to me by the Pasig NSO office, Paolo and I went to the Manila City Hall last Thursday. When we finally found the right desk, I presented my documents (complete with 2 photocopies each) to the clerk. Imagine my surprise when the girl told me I was given the WRONG list of requirements! What???!!! She proceeded to sort out my documents and then gave me the correct list of requirements. Missing were: my latest LCR BC, NBI & PNP clearance, Business Permit, and CTC. Having no other choice, I immediately applied for a copy of my LCR birth certificate. Other than for the annual renewal of my business permits, I try to avoid dealing with local government offices/employees. Now I remember why. They’re mean and they look at you funny. When I mistakenly went to the wrong “Step 2″ lane (there were two), the woman in Step 1 shouted at me!
Next in my to-do list was getting my NBI clearance “renewed.” Or so I thought. When I tried to look for my old clearance, it was nowhere to be found. I found the envelope and the old receipt, but not the form. So the supposedly pain-free renewal became an application process. Monday morning, Paolo and I went to the local NBI office here in Pasig. We arrived at around 8:15am, we left at around 11:50am. The whole process took 4 friggin’ hours.
the line starts up on that bridge
sea of humanity
The problem was there was no system whatsoever. First, you have to fall in line to pay the cashier. But you don’t get your receipt or application form there. You have to WAIT to be called because apparently, it’s too hard to print a receipt. You had to do this 3 times. Fall in line, wait to be called. It was preposterous! If you make the mistake of asking a staff about where you’re supposed to go or what you’re supposed to next, they shout at you. I swear to keep my NBI clearance safe and secure from now on. I don’t ever, ever want to do this again.
This experience kind of made me think. Did these government employees start out as nice, happy people? If so, when did they turn to the dark side? Does the government HR team have that special knack for picking out the nasty ones? I still need to get my police clearance and my business permit renewed but I think the worst is over. Wish me luck!
