My day started off with me and my sister being totally clueless and laughing our heads off as we were standing in line to get a police clearance to supplement my visa requirements. I mean.. haha.. what was funnier than having lots of people gawking at you while your mug shot (complete with your name on a board and a serious criminal-look face) was being taken? Eheheh.. we looked kalibangon in our pictures from holding in our laughter. Anyways, being the uninformed people that we are, we continually asked the security guard for instructions on how to expedite the processing. Then he simply told us with a straight face, "Bigyan nyo nalang ako ng bente para mabigay na sainyo yan mamaya". Ok. So we told him no thanks and we resorted to standing in line inside the police station so we could pay the legal "rushjob" fee. When our turn came up, I asked the step#2 lady behind the counter how much a "rushjob" is, she just said "kahit magkano gusto nyo, bahala na kayo.." I asked her again like 2 times and that’s what she answered. HUH??! We were totally confused so we gave her a hundred (for me and my sis) as that was what the other people gave her. Then we were told to wait. When my sister and I started talking about it, we pieced things together and realized that the "rushjob" fee is actually the lagay or bribe. Ohmigosh. I felt used and was angry with the lady for taking advantage of our ignorance. I then thought about how much they get everyday from this lagay (which actually looks legal since the lady was receiving it from behind the counter, and she is in charge of step#2) and how many people were led to believe that these were legal (but then again, maybe people know it and they just ignore it). It was a blatant display of corruption and it was actually my first encounter during the day.
I left my sister in the police station somewhat disgusted about what happened and went to the NBI to get another clearance. When I stepped into the taxi, the driver sped away and just demanded that I pay 200 pesos flat, instead of the flag down rate. Since I was on a rush, I begrudgingly agreed with the price and reasoned that it was near the usual rate anyway. With the traffic from
When I got inside the NBI and while I was, again, standing in line to have something checked, I tuned in to my surroundings and overheard some people behind me ranting about something. It was a man talking to people behind me and complaining about why some people were let inside the bureau wearing tsinelas when a certain guard refused him entry because he was wearing sandals. I turned my head behind me just in time as the man took a picture (yeah. a polaroid picture) of my “flip-flopped” foot (yup. I was wearing rubber flip-flops). Okay??! I looked at him and saw that he was wearing socks with his leather tsinelas like a Japanese guy. In defense to my flip-flops, I told him that there were a lot of people wearing flip-flops and it was actually not prohibited. It turned out that the security guard just deceived men (as there were other guys who were wearing socks and flip-flops) so that they will buy the socks from him! Talk about a thriving business.
On my way home, I thought about the happenings during the day and resolved that the people involved were just plain lazy and without morals. Don’t wanna work hard. Just want the easy money. Trying to mooch off money from innocent individuals. But then again, more than these issues, could it be that these people, these unsaved Filipinos just don’t know any better? We could not totally blame them for acting like that because that’s what they see happening in the nation. Corruption, poverty and a feeling of hopelessness stemmed from the fact that they don’t know Jesus. It is hard enough for a Christian to live life in this world but it must be harder to make ends meet when you don’t know the God who can back you up. Hopelessness will really make people do desperate things. This is not to justify and tolerate the doings of Mr. Guards, Taxi driver and step#2 Lady. In fact, the next time I ride a taxi which does not use the flag down rate, that driver will surely get a sermon from me about hard work. I just pray that we Christians will continue praying harder for revival because we really, really need the Hope of Glory in our hope-starved Land. Oh Lord Jesus, we so need you.
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