Happily Serviced From Far Away!

I love how many services of our government are getting more systematic and efficient.

Before I left Manila, I had my driver’s license renewed.  I had to change to my married name and I couldn’t go to the mall offices.  I instead went to the QC LTO Branch along P. Tuazon (not the main office) and was finished with my renewal in around 2 hours.  Such a far cry from the old days where you need a friggin whole day just to get your license.  As if you have nothing better to do!

Now, I need to renew my passport.  I just needed to complete an online process to set up an appointment and go there on the designated time (http://epassport.com.ph/).  It seems really efficient – at least they have identified how many they can process in a day and will have to stick to it.  They even have all the requirements listed in the site and indicators of timeline.  Let’s cross our fingers that everything goes well with that when I go home next week!

Part of my requirements is getting my Marriage Certificate from NSO.  Another government office offering awesome service.  I’ve been happy with their e-census application where you an request for your documents online (https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Secure/frmIndex.asp), pay for it in their accredited banks and the docs will be delivered straight to wherever you want it to be.  Again with clear timelines and all.  Well, our marriage certificate happens to not be converted at the time of request – the ramification was it would take longer to process because it would entail some manual processing.  Lo and behold, I got a message telling me about the situation.  With again, clear timelines – albeit a new and extended one.  But I didn’t care – I would still have it in time for my passport renewal and I am not left wondering what the heck happened to it.  Plus they even sent me a notice when it has been dispatched already!  And that was within the new timelines!

So kudos to these government offices!  You are truly giving us the bang for the taxes we pay and making us proud to be a Filipino!  Not to mention satisfy efficiency freaks like me.  Now I just hope more government offices will follow in their footsteps!