Passport Queue

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April 24, 2008 I had to wake up in the middle of the night just to be part of a 300-applicant-quota of the Department of Foreign Affairs (Davao City Philippines). At 12 midnight we headed off and queued up a long chain of applicants. I was already at number 201. If I haven't woken up and gotten there earlier I would end up like the last two days I've been there. Falling in line for 3-4 hours and ending up being sent home. Have I even mentioned there were absolutely no seats? So we just stood there waiting for the roll up door to open up at 8 only to be told that we are way over the quota and we have to come back another day. So I went there at midnight, and I'm number 201. At 10:00am they had announced that the applicants 200-300 should come back at 1:00pm, so we did and in their office were seats finally, and it was air-conditioned. So waiting wasn't that bad until the power went off. And like you guessed, there wasn't any generator. So we had to wait another one and a half hours to be called in and get our passports processed. After the long wait, I was at my last step finally. Cashier's desk. The sign says: Passport processing 20-25 days Php500 (about $12) 10-15 days Php750 (about $18). I payed for the latter. Then at 5:00pm I went home. 15 days later, I went back for the releasing of my passport. I had to fall in line again outside, standing, blistering heat perfectly laid at the other side of my face. I took a peek inside where they let in 50 applicants and saw only one person attending at the the desk. I stood there for three hours overheard people complaining about how their passports were supposed to be released weeks ago. So I decided to call a friend who has a friend working at the DFA office and ask him if my passport is already available. You've guessed it right.. ITS NOT. Until now it's been 20 days, my passport hasn't showed up still. And to think I have to get out of the country in 20 days or else I will miss the chance of ever going abroad and see my family again. ALL BECAUSE OF A ROTTEN SYSTEM that has been going on for years. Last year (2007) the local government had collected 2.98 billion in local tax. A great percentage of this comes from collections from high-end housing projects. There are a lot of investors hoping to invest in Davao these kinds of projects or better to call it "BUSINESS" so they can cash in on OFW's who dream of having a better life and home for their family. Guess which people have to go through the DFA often? OFW's! So now, they decide to spend more money on a leisure park!