Easy Fixing, Others Dying and Waiting

I’ve always hated waiting in line. It gives me so much pressure and irritation. Yet this is one thing that’s unavoidable if you’re processing documents -- be it in the government or private sector. It is always unavoidable if you’re not among those people who are open to making a deal with the malevolent fixers.

I’m one of those few (I believe really only FEW) people who won’t be dealing with fixers. Even if I hate waiting in line, I still have the patience to wait and most especially I still have the notion of being just. Dealing with these malevolent fixers is evidently against the law. But more than being against the law, it also emphasizes the injustice to the poor sector of the country.

Last March, I applied for a non-professional driver’s license. I went to the LTO Bulacan Testing Center at around 7:35 am. I had to go there early to avoid waiting in very long line. I thought I was lucky as when I arrived at the LTO, there were really few people (you can count the number of applicants with your fingers). But after I’ve finished medical exam (which is another disillusioning story), the applicants were like more than a hundred already. Alas, as much as I’ve tried to avoid waiting in line, I failed.

There was a computer system failure according to the staff of the LTO. That’s why the processing of papers went slow. However, beyond the computer system failure, the sluggish processing of papers was caused by the fixers.

Applicants who came in later than me went home first because they paid for fixers to quickly process their papers. For those who’ve paid for fixers, they only stayed at LTO for less than 2 hours. On the other hand, people like me stayed for more than 5 hours to wait for our licenses.

I am very much frustrated of this kind of system in our bureaucracy. Money vis-à-vis connections really do everything. But what’s even more frustrating is the reality that if you question this malevolence, you’ll be the one to get castigated.

When we (we’re about 5) entered the room of the photo taker (I really don’t know his position what I know is that he was the one who took my picture), a fixer along with an applicant also entered the room. The fixer said, “kuya, kayo na pong bahala sa kanya.” After saying this line, the fixer handed over some amount of money to the photo taker. Their actions got my attention and of course it’s my instinct to react (raised eyebrows). I know that the photo taker saw my reaction. What he did was to ask everyone inside his room to go out. I actually wondered why he wanted us to go out. The usual “usisera” that I am, I confronted the photo taker. I said, “Bakit ho ninyo kami pinatawag tapos bigla na lang paalisin nang wala pa namang ginagawa sa amin?” He replied, “Ang ingay niyo kasi.”

All the people inside know that there wasn’t any clamor at all. Probably, the photo taker got intimidated with the way I reacted. He realized that someone was actually questioning him with what he’s doing.

The people with me who we’re scolded to get out were usually company drivers. They weren’t able to do anything with the maltreatment that the LTO official has done to them. All they say was, “nakakainis.” They didn’t even question the act of the LTO official. The primary reason for this would probably be the fear that the LTO official would hurdle the release of their license in case they give negative comments or reactions.

Their fear was true. Because of what I did to the LTO official, he hindered the release of my license. Others got their license already while my license was still with the LTO official. He said I had to wait for some more minutes.

It’s already past 2 o’clock and I’ve been waiting for like 6 hours and I am already pissed off. I went inside the office of that LTO official and asked him how many more minutes should I wait until I get my license. He told me that I can get it in 5 minutes. I looked at my watch and started counting. When the clock has reached the 5 minutes deadline, I again entered his office and asked for my license. I said, “5 minutes na ho, wala pa rin ba.” He didn’t react. He just stared at me and gave the license after few seconds.

Apparently, he just wanted to piss me off. He power tripped on me. He couldn’t take the fact that young people (like me) would really question his unethical and immoral actions. He couldn’t take the reality that not all people would be lenient in allowing such malevolence in the bureaucracy.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t take the fact that even if I fought for justice my father told me I was wrong. He said that I should’ve not questioned the LTO official. He even said that I should’ve paid for the fixer since he gave me more than enough money. “Iyan ang kalakaran,” he said.

I don’t care if that’s the kalakaran. What I know is that, the kalakaran they are into is something unjust and immoral. I can wait in line dying rather than pay for easy fixing when I know that I’m not causing injustice to others who are there fighting fairly.

This is our bureaucracy. Corruption has penetrated the mind-set of the Filipino people. Although some aren’t directly involved with corruption, they just let it happen. They have learned to stomach this illness of the society. That’s one thing we should change. We’ve to educate the people that each of us could take part in lessening if not eradicating corruption.

Our hands may be clean because we don’t take part in actual corruption. However, often times, our eyes are guilty as we let corruption pass our vision and do nothing at all. We may play fairly but apart from fair play is also a righteous act of castigating the unjust.