I presented my SOA and ticket to one of the counters and paid 500 pesos for the violation. I was charged 500 pesos only with no late penalty. Apparently, they recorded my apprehension date as June 21 instead of June 18, so I'm still on time. Must've been the day they received the report. Oh well, works for me but it bothers me that the apprehension date in their system is now inaccurate.
He then gave me the Official Receipt in return, told me to have it photocopied, and return the copy to him. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! They can't just photocopy the OR on their side, they'll tell you to go to this hallway where there's a photocopier by the restroom, pay 2 pesos for the xerox, and go back to the same window to give the copy. Sobrang hassle.
Siguro they made the process extremely troublesome so we'd be more careful on the road next time. Or para mangotong ka na lang next time para di ka mahassle. That and they want to get loads of kickback from the photocopier too (I wonder which executive owns it). And most importantly, they wanna keep the city hall thriving with inefficiencies cos that's how they make bank. Our taxes are not enough, they have to extort us too. There's no point complaining about the rotten system because it was built that way. And the fact that people are complaining means they're succeeding. Kaching kaching. I hate Manila.
Figure this, let's say on average they can accommodate 150 people in line (I'm #132 that day and the line didn't end with me). And each of them pays at least 500 in fine + 2 pesos for xerox, that easily gives you at least 75k per day.
MTPB is earning at least 75k a day from violators alone.
In a week that's 375k.
In a month that's around 1.5 million.
AT LEAST 1.5 million.
And yet traffic keeps getting worse.
11:30 AM - finally got my license back. After 4 freaking hours.
It's a good learning experience, being subjected to this kind of suffering hahaha. I have so many takeaways from this horrible experience, the most blaring one being how hopelessly corrupted this city is. And the rest of the country actually. While waiting in line, I witnessed someone get escorted to a "backdoor" because of his connection. As in he was approached in line and made chika pa...
"BAT KA KASI NAGPAHULI" tawa tawa pa sila,
"OSYA, SAMA KA SAKIN" and off they went ahead all of us.
One person in line asked the officer "SIR, START NA PO BA?" just to get his attention but of course he was blatantly ignored.
Imagine the chismisan in line, sobrang walang hiya no haha
And that's not the first time it happened while waiting in line. Makes you wonder how deeply rooted the network of perversion is within the city hall. Just one connection, one rotten soul who would agree to be your fixer reveals a lot about the gravity of corruption inside. Cos it doesn't take just one person to grant you special privileges. It takes someone who knows someone who knows someone... who can move your paper along to the top of the pile. And God knows how many people allowed for that paper to slip by, who turned a blind eye, right with this poster plastered at every wall in the hall.
They're all full of campaigns but not a lot of shame.
It's a sickening reality we live in. People who are willing to comply are slapped with such obvious disregard for integrity and it just leaves you hopeless, kills your spirit. No wonder the city hall is shaped like a coffin.
And thaaaaat's how it went for me. 4 hours on a Monday. Not sure about other days, maybe I just came at the wrong day of the week and the lines are shorter when it's another weekday.
To thank you for reaching this part, let me summarize the process for you and give you some tips:
