City Hall Culture Shock

// March 8th, 2007

I got a copy of my birth certificate from the city hall today. And boy was it so much of a hassle! You have to wait for your birth certificate records to be found and you have to wait extra longer if your year of birth is 1956?!, which was the case of my Aunt who accompanied me and decided to get her birth certificate, too.

After almost an hour of waiting for the birth certificate records to be found, you then again have to wait in a long queue of people to pay for the service. The bill has two fees included one is Php45 and another Php5, which was stamped with TRUST FUND after the cashier (is that what they’re called?) at the Treasurer’s or Treasury Office received the payment. Fishy!

One highlight and sorta sarcastic icebreaker was when a British sounding foreigner talked to someone with his mobile phone audibly chronicling what he’s already accomplished. These are his exact words, “It’s funny. I’m only paying a hundred (pesos, I guess) and it took me half day.”

What would you expect from the Philippines’ government offices?