It has been over 3 weeks that we are working on completing all the documents needed by hubby for work. Early Monday, we were able to complete his Annual Physical Exam and part of the itinerary for that day was to get an NBI clearance at SM Megamall. If you are working or have been to Megamall and happen to see the NBI satellite office there, you’ll know there are so many people who are renewing their clearances every single day. And Monday was no different.

As I was handling my old clearance copy, it did not occur to me that I had my maiden name in there. So I kindly asked the lady if they will be able to track that I have already made the necessary status change in 2006, they said not – and that they will only depend on the copy I have with me. I asked again, if I can just cancel my application and get my P115 back, they said NOT because they have already issued a receipt. OMG!!! Only in the Philippines!

Another odd scenario happened when hubby finally got his clearance (2 copies), his name was misspelled! When we checked, it was mistakenly coded when he got his very first clearance but he never noticed it until Monday. Now, we have to go to the nearest NBI office to get his name corrected. Tuesday, we went to our Municipal office – they have an NBI office there. We were there 7AM because we knew that the office would open at 8AM. And to our shock, there were already hundreds of people outside the hall and we barely made it for their daily cut off. We were included in the 5th batch of processing. We were there 7AM and our documents were processed at around 2PM. And here’s the worst, the clearance won’t be released until another day! Another OMG!!!! We waited the whole day in there, waiting for the day to pass while seeing a nearby house owner change his pond filters only to be told that we have to come back. It was terribly disappointing. I just don’t understand why there is a need to ask for us to come back when they already knew we have wasted a day to process that single document.

I am not sure if the oldies in the Municipal Hall doesn’t want improvement. They could’ve made use of existing technologies to make life easier for everyone. But my guess would be, they are afraid to use it not because they don’t know how to but because they are afraid that when everything gets automated, they would lose their jobs. With all the people lining out there, some are new applications, some renewal, some are correction of entries, they don’t have a proper system. They were numbering the people in batches but they don’t have a specific number for the individuals – just plain batch numbers. So – every 50 heads get the same batch number, just that. And by the way, you’ll have to guess what batch are they currently processing each and every moment LOL!

And so, we went back early Wednesday morning at 8AM. And yes, they never cease to amaze us LOL! The office people waited for 9AM before they released the clearances! OMG again and again. After we got our documents, we checked it thoroughly to ensure there won’t be a single mistake again. I won’t come back to renew in that office again.

So far, I’d still prefer getting my renewal at SM Megamall office – the line is really long but the processing will only take you 5-10 minutes and after that you’re all set (if you don’t have issues).

Have you had this same experience?