On getting my NBI clearance (calling out to guy in gray…)

I was supposed to get my NBI clearance last Monday but there was some other documents I needed to bring due to my dual citizenship. So I decided to get it done today, once and for all. So I drag Cybele along and go to POEA along Edsa to apply for a NBI clearance. I persuaded Cybele to get one too since she will be needing it anyway. (Yes, I know that POEA stands for Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. But if you would visit their site, you would see that POEA is indicated as one of their satellite offices.) So anyway after my 1030 class, I rush there with Cybele, in hopes that we might be able to get something done before lunch. We arrived at 1130 and asked the guard where we could apply for a NBI clearance. She mutters "Window 11" under her breath. So we trek over to Window 11 to see that the cut off is 11am. Office will resume at 1pm. What a looong lunch break!!! So we decide to have lunch first. But before that, we verified with the guard if we could really apply there. To our dismay, we cannot. So the site was inaccurate (as expected of a government site). Then the guard asks me if I was a sea man. If so, I could get my NBI clearance there. Duh! Do I look like a sea man!!! Pwede naman kasing woman diba?! 

So we left and decided to go to Quezon City Hall because I had a friend who got hers there. So aimlessly driving along Edsa trying to find a way to get to Quezon City Hall, I tell Cybele to turn right at Quezon Avenue because it sounds logical to turn right at a road which has the same name as Quezon City Hall. Seems like I was on the right track because I saw the signs. So after driving a bit more, we finally reach Quezon City Hall. Yey!

But alas, our joy turned to horror when we saw the queue. Thank God it was the line for those released clearances. We head over to payment (which had a short queue). We pay 115 peso and head for fingerprinting. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the man facilitating the finger printing ask me for 5 pesos. So where da hell did my 115 pesos go to? hhhmmm,….

After finger printing, we were lost as all the lines seem to be intersecting each other. We ask the guard which line did we have to go to after wards. He points to Data Entry. So after queuing up for 10 minutes, I get the feeling that we missed something. We ask the guy in the gray shirt behind us if he had his picture taken. Turns out Manong Guard got his lines mixed up. Sigh! Typical! So I ask guy in gray shirt nicely if he could reserve my spot in front of him while I rush to take my picture taken. So once more, we rush to another line and have our picture taken.There was no cue from the man when to smile. he just shouts, "Tapos na!" 

So after hearing "Tapos na", we rush back to guy in gray, wondering how the picture turned out. (Thank you so so much. We never got your name. I am Tahn while the girl in green is Cybele. once more thank you so much). Anyway after checking our names in the database, our suspicions are confirmed. Our names are so unique that we do not have to come back again another day. We were going to queue up for the releasing of the clearance, but we stopped when we saw the line. It had even gotten longer. As I stare at the line, a guy selling water and c2 comes up to me and offers to get my clearance for a small fee of 150 pesos. I look at the line and nod my head at c2 guy. As we were waiting for our clearances, I felt so bad. I just subscribed to corrupt acts. What did I learn? I was not supposed to allow myself to get sucked up in the whole corrupt system. But when I saw my clearance and glanced at the long line that did not seem to be moving, I consoled myself and told myself that a little corruption is not too bad . (Let’s just blame the system )

So now I have my NBI clearance which has a picture that does not really look like me. But who cares? SSS number nalang! Wahoo!

Once again, guy in gray, thank you so much! Hope you get your NBI clearance soon. Take care