Blessed Tidings

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Pay Up or Suffer

Jerry and I left the house early at 730 this morning for NBI-7 as I intended to get my clearance for submission to my new employer. It has been more than 8 years since I last had my clearance processed and we already anticipated the long lines of people.

At the designated parking outside the NBI compound, a man and a woman, clad in shorts, greeted us immediately. They were "facilitators" looking for a quick buck in exchange for "special" services. Knowing that some government offices do not practice the "mamamayan muna" attitude and instead would dilly-dally the processing without concern for everyone who is in a hurry, we were fodder for these opportunistic facilitators. Sadly, we took the "express lane" without hesitating for a moment.

I don't know if this errant practice is known to NBI officials. We don't know for sure if some insiders share in the "facilitation fee" loot. What we know is that because we were party to the misdeed, the processing for our NBI clearances only took an hour (1) tops.

We were out of there in no time, passing the long queues snaking their way to the different sections of the office. People like me are partly to blame for the rampant corruption in these offices. How unfortunate. It's either you pay up or endure the heat and long wait as your paper gets pushed to the bottom of the heap to accommodate those who didn't want to be inconvenienced.

Sad. :(

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Guess Who Are In Town

Paparazzi and Mamarazzi arrived in Cebu today for my maternal grandmother's 91st birthday on the 20th. Their first stop was to meet up with Aunt Didi, cousins Mimi and Stella for some steak dinner at Arano's.

Ack, the first of a long series of food-tripping... Haha! :D

Paparazzi and Mamarazzi, 3rd and 2nd from left respectively, with cousins Mimi, Stella and Auntie Didi

New Blog, New Job

Yes, my 7-month hiatus from employment has finally come to an end. I'm now the Corporate Services Manager of a diverse organization in the logistics industry, specifically the local licensee of Fedex.

As a newbie, I'm presently trying to learn about the organization as well as the company's jargon. And terms like air waybill, manifesting, duties, export, import and PEZA regulations come into play with my regular gibberish.

Looking forward to my 1st paycheck. Wee!

Thanks Tin!

Ey! I'm now part of the marikit.net community of bloggers. What an honor to be invited! Right now I'm busily learning more about Wordpress and will soon be posting more.

Stay tuned!