On the Defense line: a letter to our clients

I've just recently started on my first "office" job since i finished school. Six months of travelling made me realize two things: i need money and i need to work, so now im really here-- in the real world.

I had the opportunity to choose to work at a government agency where I will learn a thing or two about survival and building connections. I currently work at the Bureau of Immigration, and my cousin suggested that I share my stories-- the serious and the funny ones to everyone. and so I am here, telling you my story. 

have fun. 

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“Baka pwede naman po itong pakiusapan?”

“PRESS AKO! Isulat mo pangalan mo at pagmali ka, anong ang gagawin ko sayo?”

I’ve only been working in the Bureau of Immigration for a month now, and I have heard so many people saying either like the former—people who try to cut corners because they forgot to do one or two of the protocols in collecting items like the i-card or visa, or they’re the latter—the ones who use their work or name or a name that has “power” to scare us.

Yes, I know its frustrating most of the time, but accusing and assuming that one’s bureau is corrupt and unable to do their jobs right is an accusation I cannot accept. So for the sake of all hard-working and veteran employees of the bureau and to all present and future citizens of the Philippines, let me defend and explain to you our side.

First of all, it does not give justice when I say that we are hard-working and respectful civil servants, especially to those who have been working in the office for quite some time now. We work from 7 o’clock in the morning until 5:30 PM, we are not allowed to leave the office for lunch, and we do not have breaks, just to accommodate the demanding clients who think that we want to keep their visas just to make them suffer a little bit longer.

We acknowledge the fact that you have a lot of fees, that you wait outside where its hot and unpleasant, that lines are long, and that you think we are not doing anything. But implementing visas are not like baking cookies. We do not just mix, bake, and after 10 minutes it’s all done. We do not just show your papers and stamp your visa. We ask for documents, verify them and follow the procedure. But most of all, we do not cut corners for anybody.

It has been three years since PNoy promised to clean the system. The corrupt government as we all say, must be put right. But most of the people who live in this country, Filipino or not, do not realize that “cleaning the system” does not mean miraculously creating this perfect country from worst airport to number one in a year. Cleaning the system means having a plan—reviewing, applying, and evaluating each department as to how to make it cleaner and better—and knowing if that plan is more effective or better is another topic. And you know what that means? It means it takes time.

Three years after, and a month of talking with my peers and reading all the new memorandums of the current commissioner, I can only say one thing: this bureau means business. No loitering policy and lunch breaks for all employees to process all customers throughout the day, proper attire and decorum in the agency for clients must be applied, because quite frankly this is no mall, and strict compliance of receiving and releasing of data to minimize the risk of losing important documents and giving them away to unauthorized agents and/or persons. Both of which try to solve the problem of not being able to accommodate all present clients in the main office and minimizing the risk of false identification.

And yet still, a lot of people complain about the process, the money, and the time they have consumed to get their visas approved. But you see a lot of people line up in the U.S. Embassy from morning until the afternoon, paying so much money, not complaining, waiting for hours and sometimes even skipping their meals just get their visas approved. So why can’t we have that same compliance in our own agency?

And, is this fair?

What you should know though is that we accommodate hundreds of people a day, implement about 500 visas a week, and approve more than a thousand applications a month.  SO YOU CANNOT BE A SPECIAL CASE JUST BECAUSE.

Do not forge your relative’s signature. Do not attempt to pay us money or your charm to fasten the process. Read everything, bring the requirements, and ask nicely. And if you’re still not happy, you can always recommend, complain and leave comments on our website or directly to the commissioner’s office.

But then that got me thinking. How about us, where do we complain about people who verbally abuse us all day? Where do we complain about people who want to cut corners and not follow protocol? Where can we complain about the attitude that you give us because you do not want to wait a little bit longer?

These are questions that I would like you to answer when you one day go to the office and ask for the implementation of your visa, because really, DAANG MATUWID means following protocol, following procedure, following rules. And if you can’t handle that, then maybe you should ask yourself one last thing--  who  then is corrupt, you, who want to get what you want or us, who just follow protocol?

***And if you’re wondering about what happened to the two people who commented that, the former did not get the item that she wanted, and the latter, after yelling and humiliating my colleague, was in the end, wrong and did not come back.