February 23
By Elder Noel D. Luke
Thought ya’ll might find interesting my subject story. Last Friday I and two other church helpers drove to the Mandaue Land Transportation Office (LTO) to obtain a Filipino drivers license. J Foreign licenses are only good for 60 days and my Arizona license would not be good after March 22. As we turned the corner, heading to the LTO, a man tried to flag us down, pull us over, but the members counseled, keep driving. The area around the LTO was busy, with people coming and going. A good number of street people were doing some kind of “business.” I noticed a sign on the fence of the LTO: “Beware of Fixers.” I now understood that the guy flagging us down wanted to help us to get the “fix” for a license.
The narrow street at the LTO didn’t have a safe place to park, with the number of people on the street, coming and going. My escorts directed me into a side court and we parked for P20 in a protected area. We first went to a “Doctor’s” office across from the LTO. The “Doctor” checked off all the boxes on the medical form, not asking me any questions. I was given a small jar and asked for a urine sample, paid P260. While waiting for the urine test results, I noticed a man rearranging, delicately handling (in ritual form) a bunch of icons (religious) up on a shelf behind a barrier. The “MD” finished up the medical paper work and we headed across the street to the LTO.
At the gate into the LTO a guard asked us what we wanted. We got the same quiz at the entry door to the LTO. Inside, the entry room was packed with patrons seeking licenses and I thought, hum, ½ a day. My escorts spoke to a person and we were ushered into a side glass enclosed office. An officious man examined my paper work, asked how long I planned to be in the country, 23 months, do you have proof, then said, sorry, come back on Monday, the decision maker is out of the office. Price: P700. On LTO’s website, the price for a non-professional license is P180.
Yesterday I and my two escorts returned to the LTO, only to learn that Xerox copies of my passport and mission call letter (showing our 23 mos. plan for residence) were not acceptable, we would need “certified” copies. We walked back across the street to the “Doctor’s” office and were ushered into the “Doctor’s” wife’s office. The wife had a 1950’s grungy typewriter on a secretarial desk by the door, probably never used it, while a secretary sat at a higher desk towards the back, busy working on a new T-Apple laptop. My escorts asked the wife what we could do, with discussions ensuing in Cebuano. Pretty soon the secretary at the back knocks firmly on the wall behind her and shortly a late twenties light, thin bearded man with a slick hat appears at the door and more Cebuano conversation ensues with him.
He disappears then reappears, bottom line, fast track processing can be arranged, price P2,200. We would need to bring in the P2,200 and certified copies of my mission call, passport that includes arrival date. All mission passports are mailed to the Church office in Manila for safe keeping. In the afternoon, my male escort took my payment and paperwork back to the LTO and was told that they required that I file after 5 months. He replied, Elder Luke has to drive and his foreign license expires in March. What is he to do? The man replied, our office is being renovated and he could not really help us. My helper then went to the regional LTO office in downtown Cebu City, shopping my application around, with no success. Today he will go over to the Lapu Lapu LTO office by the airport to seek approval.
This whole process, where a governmental agency is in a position of control, seems to reveal a pattern of corruption that exists in the Filipino system at any point where money is exchanged. As I understand it, the fixers are both on the outside and the inside.
Who knows, we might be consigned to riding Jeepney’s and Taxi’s for the rest of our mission after March 22nd! I feel the embarrassment of my friends who are trying to help me. I’ll let you know how this story ends.
Elder Luke
P.S. I taught Module I of the Church’s career workshop in the morning, 8 non-members and 2 members present. I hope and prayer that this teaching opportunity will make a difference for the attendees.
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