Saturday, July 30, 2011
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This picture was taken four years ago when I was lining up at the NBI Satellite Office in Taytay. When I uploaded in Flickr, I captioned it as "No EQ in NBI." Little did I know, four years later, that experience was heaven compared to the NBI process now! Of all the government requirements I needed to fulfill, I intentionally set NBI for last. Everything else - Philhealth, SSS, BIR - were all a breeze! I was half expecting them all to be a bit iffy considering they were government offices (I honestly do not have a high regard for these offices. Sorry, but it's true. Based on experience). I was pleasantly surprised they were all easy. SSS? Just download off the Internet. Philhealth - there's an information desk person who helps you out and then just line up. Done in five minutes. BIR - ahhh special case. I was rushing from Landmark to Atrium at 11:15am, thinking they had a lunch break and hoped to make it before. Surprisingly, they didn't have any lunch break and when I came in, they were serving number 84. I was 86! Done in five minutes! But NBI clearance. Oh my gosh. I had heard of horror stories that made me completely defeated by the process. When I reconnoitered in Robinsons, I was told people camp out as early as 11pm! Reading tweets also was also pretty discouraging - people lining up for seven to 13 hours to get their NBI clearance. Completely discouraging!! But NBI clearance was something I had to do and get done soonest, so I just went for it! I got up at 2:30am last Thursday to line up by 3:30am at Robinsons Metro East. It was quite the experience lining up with so many people who were just as stressed (oh boy, they really were stressed and agitated and ready to fight!) as I was with the process. In fairness, queueing up as early as that paid off -- I was able to finish by 9am... after lining up for 5 hours. Not bad, considering the line was waaaay longer when I got out and I think the wait time would double and go beyond past lunch time. The wait is long and the process is fairly quick. What makes it long is the volume of the people and the limited number of stations/steps (there are four steps to go through). It's kind of sad because so many people lining up for the clearance are those who are OFWs and people who have jobs to go to and need the whole day off to do this. Maybe if there were more accessible clearance centers out there, then this process shouldn't have to take all day! Now that NBI (my worst fear) is done, I think I can do more government-related stuff (haha!), but this time on my own time. Such as: 1. Copy of my birth certificate. I only have a photocopy. But everyone tells me this is easy, just call a hotline. 2. Update my driver's license. My name is not complete. :P 3. SSS ID card. Another valid ID! But yes... these will be done next time. Had enough of going around government offices the past week! Labels: rant-rave
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