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We just got home from INS Day 2, Cebu City office in Mandaue,
just across the Cebu City border.
[ I went out two days after this. It took me about 45
minutes. I go out early morning, 8 Am or so on a Tuesday,
Wednesday of Thursday. Don
Herrington, February 1, 2007. I would have had to go twice
has I not been advise I had
to take a copy of my marriage license. It does not have to
be notarized.]
Yesterday we left the house at 7:30 am and it took two hours
of setting to:
1)
pay the P310 or so, then
2)
to 2nd floor for a form for the mandatory I-Card. We had
to wait an hour for the gal to get to work as did many other
people. So they
give us a numbered blank form to fill out. By this time
we're exhausted and so, we go home and I try to figure out
this form that's made only for an INS office worker to
understand.
DO BRING YOUR U.S. OR OTHER PASSPORT, CAUSE THEY WANT TO
VIEW THAT TOO.
Do bring a copy of your marriage cert. They'll need it. They
keep the copy, or you can run down to 2nd floor and have a
copy made.
By this time, you just want to get out of there. So do bring
a copy. Your already been to the copy people for the 3
copies and so when you're there if you got no marriage
license copy, the have one made THEN. You don't want to
start over again do you?
When you get to Cebu's 3rd floor, then they have a sign
saying they need it. I just happened to have my permanent
residence papers
from the consulate in Chicago and there was a copy there. If
not, back home you go for it.
Day 2:
We got at INS again after waiting for a traffic backup on
the highway and we got the last parking place in front of
INS. We went in and went directly to 2nd floor and today the
3)gal finished the form. If you're goona finish the form
there you don't need all the blanks filled in. Do become
recognizant of your ACR NO/ issue date, place issued/ OR#
and cert of residence #, name to print is last name, first
name, middle initial.
For travel info they filled that in and I filled in 'travel
doc's details with my u.s. pspt #, issue date exp date and
issue place.
Then personal description is common sense. They have you
sign it and send us downstairs where gave the paper to
'receiving' and
4)
sat there for 1 1/2 hours only to be called to the
'casher' to pay about p2552.00 or so for the icard. I don't
thing 'receiving' does anything but hold the papers for 1
1/2 hours and then they give it to the cashier.
5)
Then back to 2nd floor and you are told to go to the copy
machine
where two gals take three copies of everything for p52.
Yesterday was to pay for the annual p310 and today we paid
for the icard in advance.(p2452.50)
6)
Then we were send to 3rd floor First you take a number.
There's no sign that tells you that of course where we just
sat a half hour and they then have a sign where a marriage
license copy is required.
7)Then you set again and finally they call your number and
you
a)
get your fingerprints taken by an electronic machine
b)
get your photo taken
c)
Sign your name on an electronic glass like a credit card thingee which never looks like your signature anyway.
d)
give them another p150 to notarize the thing in your
absence sometime.
e)
They keep the big yellow cardboard (the one they sign on
the back every year) you've had and give you back the little
cardboard
with the E number and your photo on it with your residence
address.
g )
They tell you to check in four months and you leave. We
got to INS at 745am and got out at 1045am. Mostly you just
set around.
It really seems strange after bringing the completed forms
down to receiving and set for 1 1/2 hours and all they do is
give it to the
cashier in all that time.
Then you pay.
Now the icard has an electronic chip in it and supposedly
you don't
have to go there every year. I don't know that for sure.
That's what people say.
Lastly, the icard, having this electronic chip, I saw a documentary where someone with a PC can read anyone's
electronic chip (card)
even if its in your billfold and their PC is in a briefcase.
They supposedly can read all the data on the card from
several feet away. That's just good information to know.
Anyway, just thought I post this for you poor souls who have
not yet visited INS this year. It's like U.S. INS or a
drivers license bureau in the states. Frustrating.
LOL David U.
Philippine Governments Visa Page--All about
Philippine Visa Requirements
http://www.gov.ph/faqs/visa.asp
Visas and Raymond's Fast
Food: Detainment for Passport Violation
What I used to do when on a tight budget and had a
lot more time than money was something someone
very creative and thrifty a "cheap Charlie,
foreigner taught me, perfectly legal it seemed and
may be.
If I did not want to go back the next day or two
or maybe four in those days, nor did I want to pay
the express lane fee, I would just leave my
passport and all papers with Immigration and come
back in two months and pick it up. Of course it
was ready by then. After I picked it up, I went
through the renewal process again. Then I left it
with them again for two more months.
There is one problem with this. According to
Philippine Law, a foreigner must carry their
passport on their person at all times. A
receipt from the Bureau of Immigration is not
enough to satisfy that requirement. But no one I
know carries their passport with them all the
time. I carry a *copy* of my passport, the first
two pages, laminated and in my wallet. But even
that does not meet the requirement of that law, as
I read it, a law rarely enforced as far as I know.
I know this was the law at that time. I was shown
the Law.
Why? Because I was involved in a mass sweep in
Manila when all foreigners in Ermita on the
streets and in the bars in the area of P. Del
Pilar, one night during Mayor Lim's "clean up of
the city campaign." And many Filipinos too, were
picked up and detained, suspected prostitutes
their "managers," and even children, gay men,
pregnant women, business men on their way home
from what ever.
I had violated no law except not having the
passport on my person. But I was taken with the
rest of the foreigners and Filipinos who were
picked up in that area to the NBI's gym and held
overnight. We were taken in large busses with NBI
personnel aboard, handguns drawn as though they
were ready to shoot to kill if one of us jumped
out the window, all broken and jammed, impossible
to open so not even an option. They did not look
like a friendly bunch, no "Filipino smile."
All foreigners with passports on their person were
let go immediately after their arrival at the gym
when they were asked to produce them. Others who
did not and I were detained overnight. Some of
them and I had put my passport in Immigration for
renewal that day and had the receipt for it. I
showed the receipt to them. They showed me the
Law. After we were in custody they started smiling
again, became regular Filipinos, proud of the job
they had done. They did do a good job, hurt no
one.
The next morning, after a reasonably nice
breakfast provided by the NBI, The others and I
were taken to Immigration, picked up our passports
with the visa stamp already in them, and released.
None of us were booked or charged of anything, as
far as I know. I know I was not.
Like the fool I was, I went back directly back to
Ermita to Raymond's Fast Foods where they got me.
And had a beer or four with the others picked up
from there and discussed the exciting night. We
knew this was all for show but a serious warning,
probably not to be repeated.
Of course Raymond's and all the bars, including
the girly bars, bikini bars, were still open at
9am. The NBI didn't close the bars, just pick up
customers in them and in the area on the streets.
In those days bars in Ermita were open 24 hours a
day. They called them "day and night clubs." All
but Raymond's had doors, usually closed with
hawker outside.
Raymond's Fast Foods, was wide open front not even
a wall: No front a 12 foot entrance way to the
thin unpainted plywood unpadded unstable round
board mounted on two inch pipes, around the bar.
Why have a front if you never close? My favorite
stool was on the sidewalk not exactly inside the
bar but I guess more in and out. But from where I
sat I could reach out and touch the Jeepneys as
they went by and smell the smoke especially when
there was too much traffic to move, most of the
time. There were no dancers or GRO's in Raymond's.
It was just a joint where a lot of foreigners
gathered to drink, eat and complain about what a
terrible country this is, how horrible the people
are and how much better is was in their country.
They even complained about the high prices in
Raymond's. But they never mention why they wanted
to stay here the rest of their lives. There were
some strange ducks in that place and I guess I was
one of them. But I loved the Country. I just kept
my mouth shut. And I kept trying to figure out
what their problem was. I never did.
If you are a "cheap Charlie," like I felt I had to
be in those days, you went to Raymond's, beer 6
pesos, a half liter bottle of Rhum P12 Cokes for
P5. Something that resembled a hamburger was P8 or
so. There was other Filipino food even cheaper,
fried lumpia, and other delights. Cheap Charlie's
got their visa once every two months and went to
Raymond's for refreshment, entertainment and
conversation, such as it was. There were no drugs
at Raymond's as far as I know. There was not a
shabu/speed problem here at that time. It existed,
I know, but was not common like today. Today I am
sure Raymond's would be a shabu haven. But about
Raymond's you could never be sure about anything
except you better keep you wallet in your front
pocket and not leave any change on the bar.
Today I understand "cheap Charlies" go to sari
sari stores, some open all night. I have been
known to do that too. You can meet some nice
people there and some not as nice, just as at
Raymond's. You can find similar comfortable
seating. But unlike Raymond's I have never seen a
sari sari store or any bar with a one juke box on
one side of it and one on the other side, facing
one another, only 12 feet apart playing different
songs at the same time like some surreal
competition for no prize. The disco "music," was a
real experience, a strange kind of stereo,
incomprehensible sounds pounding your ears. They
were both turned to the most popular volume level
here, the maximum. At the time we all said, "If
this place goes, there will never be another
Raymond's." I think we were right.
At the time I thought it was a great life, or at
least a very
different one from any I have ever known. And I
have few regrets. I did some things I would not do
today and some I am ashamed of. But I had too much
Rhum to be sure I did them. But I had to learn the
hard way, like a lot of confused newcomers. But my
liver is still intact
and my life is moderated to a much more mature
level. And I see the world through different eyes,
older and I hope maybe just little bit wiser. If
so maybe I owe some of it to Raymond's and
learning about how some foreigners live and love
it here in the Philippines, while they hate it. I
decided not to follow that path to destruction.
There are many better ways to live and be much
happier.
There are a million or more stories to tell about
Raymond's Fast Foods. If you are lucky I will not
bother with you again under the guise of giving
you visa information. But I do love to write
about, Raymond's an aberration, as unlike to
appear again as the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Don Herrington, 02-01-05
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