Cutting Line at the Passport Office…
My passport is expiring in 6 months so I figured it was finally time to get a new one. Excited that we finally have these new "e-passports" that are machine readable and which bring us up to "world standard" and shall facilitate processing when visiting foreign lands, I started the process some 3+ weeks ago. I turned to our travel agent to arrange the passport renewal. As with all applicants, they applied for a date for a "personal appearance or appointment" at the spanking new DFA Consular Office that processes passports located at the reclaimed area beside S&R in Baclaran. I was given a date 3 weeks later, and today, I showed up at 7:20am for an 8:00am appointment. I was met by the travel agent's representative, given the completed and checked forms, deposit slips to show previous payment, and brought to Gate 1, where all applicants assisted by agencies line up. Here's the first tip. Use a respectable and trustworthy travel agent that does this regularly. The lines at Gate 1 were significantly shorter than going at this yourself through the other gates. The agent simply gets you to the right door and leaves you to wait your turn while comfortably seated until the processing windows open for business at 7:30am. What follows next can only be described as a uniquely Pinoy (or simply third-world?) bureaucratic government office game of musical chairs. If filmed at fast speed for youtube, it could have been called "How to clean your waiting chairs by having hundreds of clothed butts wiping them throughout the day..."
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Why can't they be the same with the foreign embassy's here? When I was applying for my US visa, one famous celebrity was applying too..and yet she didn't get or even asked any special treatment and just waited like the rest of us..mind you, even the pinoy staffs there who obviously know her didn't give her any special treatment..That's how it should be done!
