Saturday, January 22, 2011

Bureau ofImmigration and its red tape

Last November 16, 2010 my lawyer filed a motion for the dismissal of a harassment case filed against me. The judge denied the motion and gave the complainant two months to prove her case since the judge believed her alibi that she was abroad before the scheduled hearing and was not able to make it on the said trial date.

We wrote a letter to the NBI to help us know the whereabouts of the complainant but they referred us to the Bureau of Immigration here in Baguio. We made a similar request letter addressed to the regional office of the Bureau headed by Mr. Ricardo Dl. Gabochan, after more than two weeks we followed up the request. He verbally told us that they made verification if Flores Silo was out of the country on the dates specified and told us that Ms. Silo never went out of the country as claimed.

We ask the good office of Mr. Ricardo Dl Gabochan to give us a certification since it is already known that indeed silo never went out of the country on the aforementioned dates. He said that he can only give the verbal information since it is the national office that is task to give out certifications involving these matters. We made a follow up verbal request but the answer is the same.

After a week last January 7 2010 I went down to the main office of the Bureau of Immigration in manila. I brought with me a received copy of our request to the regional office. When I inquired regarding issuance of certifications, I was given a form to fill up; the regional office in Baguio did not have a form similar to this. I was then directed to submit the accomplished form at window 17. I was advised by the staff that I will follow it up after a week by calling OIC Ronaldo P. Ledesma at Tel. no.527-5380 or see him at his office at Rm. 423. I went again to window 12 and told the employee that the regional office had made a research and the subject mentioned in the request is p0sitively still in the country and if there is a way I can talk to the officer concerned because it is another expense of time and money if I will come back after a week. The employee just told me he is following orders and never bothered to listen to me. I ask him how much the amount to be paid for the said certification is and he told me its more than 1000.00 pesos. I almost fainted after hearing him. I scraped my lunch to save on expenses and the confiscatory fees demanded cramped my stomach. One week is too long to wait at this time where we can locate things and persons in a few minutes with just a few clicks.

I left window 12 and went to the office of OIC Ledesma to explain my predicament but to my surprise you have to talk to several persons before you can see a glimpse of the director. I tried to explain again the findings of Mr. Gabochan but instead the secretary or whatever cordoned sanitair bluntly told me to come back after a week. I explained to her I came from Baguio city and I would like to maximize my time I explained to her patiently the facts I gathered from their regional office but she just told me to come back after a week period. If only the regional office accommodated my request I would have earned cash to pay my tax instead of wasting my time and money at the national office of the Bureau of immigration.

Lastly the Bureau of Immigration is collecting 500 pesos as an additional for express transaction in addition to the regular charge but it’s not worth it. It is not functional as the word express connotes.

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