A day at the LTO, three letters to strike fear into the heart of the most stalwart Filipino.

Since I arrived in the Philippines a couple of months ago, I have been relying on the treaty agreement that enables me to drive making use of my own British licence, an International licence I procured before leaving the UK and my passport. As you can imagine, carrying all of these documents at all times is a nuisance (and I have on occasion forgotten them, which is a no-no here) especially my passport. Kat suggested that we should apply for my own Filipino driving licence; the process of which I had heard anecdotally was fraught with frustration and a long time waiting.

It is probably fair to say that there are few things in life which really get Filipinos complaining and it seems the LTO (Land Transportation Office) is not only one of these, but is quite near the top. Kat had decided that we should seek some assistance in the application as being a foreigner the process was not quite the same as for a Filipino; these steps were as follows (with some commentary from me on how it all went):-

• ·      We arrived at the LTO facility around 8am after I drove through the rush hour traffic; we found somewhere to park the car we met up with our guide for the day at his office adjacent to the LTO facility a few km from our home. Louie took us through the process verbally explaining each in turn, in Tagalog as his English was not up to it, so Kat translated for me.
• ·      Provide two copies of my original full UK licence (which I have held since 1978), passport (including visa pages), Alien Registration Card and International Driving Licence and have these verified as original copies by one of the LTO Admin Officers. We had already made the copies elsewhere, which seems to be common practice, the LTO could charge for making copies which they know are genuine……
• ·      Complete the application form for the issuance of a Filipino licence based on holding a foreign licence.
• ·      Proceed for a drug test and medical across the road, this involved the first of several forms to be completed on in triplicate, no carbon paper or NCR paper allowed, so complete each one by hand. After which you had to queue up to pay the cashier for the medical and drug tests, it was like being at the deli counter…..
• o   The medical was simple, turns out I am a lot shorter than I thought (or so my new licence says) at 1.65m against 1.7 but what is 2 inches between friends?? I have also lost around 5 or 6kg in weight since arriving here, must be the lack of beer. The eye test was to read a chart, if you could meet the stated minimum with glasses on then no problems, so an all clear on that one, a photo was then taken for the record.
• o   The drug test was straightforward, pee in a bottle, hand it in for analysis for THC and methamphetamine, a negative result on both (a pass) and another photo and all 10 of my fingerprints were taken.
• ·      After this we returned to the LTO facility to continue the process, which involved
• Waiting for a photo to be taken and an electronic signature at Window 3
• Wait some more for another photo and electronic signature to be taken at Window 2.
• At this point Louie noticed I was wearing flip-flops (or slippers) which are not welcome up in the test room, so Kat volunteered to go and buy me a pair of shoes
• Pay a small fee at Window 9, Kat also brought the shoes over, one was a bit tight, but would suffice
• Collect receipt to confirm payment from Window 5
• Take receipt to Window 1 to book in for the road rules review and the written test. We had some time before the review and test, so went to get lunch.
• ·      After lunch I, with a number of others were taken to the examination room where we were shown a number of animated informational films, all in Tagalog regarding the rules of the road and road signs used in the Philippines, fortunately the rules are fairly universal as are the road signs, I did learn something about right of way at junctions with no traffic lights which was handy.
• ·      Subsequent to the informational films, we took a 40 question multiple-choice exam, mine was provided in English, I was confident from my existing knowledge of 38 of the answers with only 2 causing me any problems.
• ·      The exam was signed off as having been completed by me in the exam room by the invigilator and I was told to report downstairs for the practical test. I have to add, at this point that Louie was surprised this was taking place as most foreigners with an existing licence are not required to undergo this, however because us Brits drive on the correct side of the road, unlike most of the rest of the world, an exception is made for us and we are required to demonstrate that we can indeed drive a left hand drive vehicle.
• ·      Pay for the practical test, even though we were using Kat’s car (I think she had made some other payments for the licence whilst I was taking the test at any one or more of the windows!!)
• ·      The practical test, which took place on a track about the size of our 3-bedroom house, was odd to put it mildly. You start at a line, drive about 2m then up a slope, down the other side to a junction with a stop sign, stop, indicate left then execute the turn. Drive along the top of the square, turn left again, negotiate a pedestrian crossing then cross the finish line. I think we managed it without leaving 1^st gear, or maybe got into 2^nd on the back straight!!!
• ·      That was it, job done, just wait some more for the licence, from Window 5. This was completed and we were able to walk away with my nice shiny new licence just after 3:10pm a total of around 7 hours, the majority of which was spent just sitting around and waiting.

Now I appreciate the need to regulate who has a licence to operate a motor vehicle and I will comment again on my thoughts with regard to the overall quality of drivers here, which is generally appalling, or at least road behaviour is and the flouting of even the most basic road rules let alone vehicular safety with special note to be made of :-

• working lights or more importantly the lack of them, both front and back
• overtaking on bends
• undertaking
• driving on the shoulder to undertake
• a total lack of lane discipline
• no or inappropriate use of indicators
• a total disregard of speed limits
• killer buses
• homicidal trucks
• suicidal motor cyclists
• bullying Foretuner and Monterey Sport drivers

Back in the UK, and some of this may have changed slightly since I last had anything to do with it, the process to get a licence is:-

• ·      Obtain application form online or from the Post Office.
• ·      Complete the form and have one of two photographs validated by a non-family member of standing in the community (this includes doctors, lawyers, company directors and bizarrely holders of licence to server intoxicating liquor i.e. pub landlords).
• ·      Post to form and appropriate payment to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Wales (DVLA).
• ·      Receive provisional (student) licence.
• ·      Undergo training on the highway until sufficiently proficient to drive and are considered ready for the test
• ·      Apply for test(s)
• ·      Undergo written test, which is computer based and involves knowledge of road rules, hazard identification and understanding of basic vehicle care.
• ·      Undergo practical test, which takes place on the public highway and requires a number of manoeuvres to be successfully executed.
• ·      Once both tests have been successfully completed, follow the same procedure as for the student licence, but include pass certificates and complete form for a full licence.
• ·      Receive full driving licence in the post……………..

By the way, apparently registering a vehicle is just as much fun as the driver licensing process and can take the same amount of time, this is something I am not looking forward to, I hope the dealership can manage this process for me when I buy my car in a few months.

Crammed a lot into 10 weeks....

A lot has happened in the 10 weeks since I arrived in my new home in the Philippines. I have observed the resourcefulness and also experienced some remarkable behaviours from Filipinos, mostly I am pleased to say good, including the warmth and friendliness for which the country is famous and I have come across some helpful officials in some of the local and national government too, although I have yet to attempt to get my local driving licence at the LTO.

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I was brought up in the West, and my career was spent in R&D for 8 years and a further 16 years in a variety of technical management roles related to quality performance and manufacturing excellence, and latterly worked with colleagues to implement Lean practices i.e to reduce non-value add activities in all processes. As such I can become very impatient when I perceive that unnecessary blocks are being put in place or bureaucracy is slowing things down. I also have my own views on what is and what isn't good service provision and what should be a part of this when paying a premium. Anyway to the recent experiences:

•                I am very impressed with the way in which the Philippines, as a whole, has taken their environmental responsibilities. Don't get me wrong, there is a long way still to go and individuals have to take on a lot more personal responsibility, especially for littering and other trash disposal; however the other parts of the mantra are being quite well supported, although not in the same way as I am used to from the West

a.    Replace, as a result of the sheer number of plastic bags scattered about the country and especially clogging the waterways and drainage system, many of the regions have already implemented a blanket ban on the free issue of plastic carrier bags by shops with the exception for wet items (food such as meat and fish). Many of the shops have replaced plastic with paper, which is fine for most small purchases and then re-use packaging such as cartons to pack shopping in.

b.    Reduce there is not the same level of consumerism here as back in Europe, many things are sold in smaller packs, which does require more packaging, but you cant win them all…. This leads to people buying what they need, so there is less wastage.

c.     Re-use, see above for the cartons, also there are many small workshops where brake shoes and clutch plates can be re-lined and tyres can be re-vulcanised and there are many other examples too numerous to mention. I am also impressed with the number of uses to which Filipinos can put re-bar, which I guess is an easily obtained material to be used wherever metal bars are required.

d.    Recycle, this one is not a sophisticated as back in Europe where there are huge recycling centres, however glass Coke bottles still have a deposit charged on them, encouraging you to return them. Some locations segregate wastes into plastics, metals, bio-degradable and general waste, this was very noticeable in Boracay and Cebu and some parts of Manila and Laguna

I have however noticed the tendency, especially in the supermarkets to over package vegetables, some items are left for the customer to pick and chose, then have weighed, others, such as apples, oranges, potatoes and carrots are often pre-packaged in a plastic tray with cling-film or ceran wrap; I wish they would stop doing this.
On a separate note, could SM Supermarket in Santa Rosa please keep their milk cold, it is distressing to pour out lumpy milk onto one’s cornflakes of a morning having only bought the milk the day before. Keeping it near room temperature in a country such as this is not a good idea.

•                Getting married outside one's own home country is a bit of a challenge, I needed to obtain a Certificate of No-Impediment from the British Embassy 21 days after arriving, when I tried to make an appointment there was nothing available until just over a week before the wedding, the only problem was I needed to apply for the wedding licence too, and that had to be 10 to 14 days before the wedding. I wrote a plaintive email to the embassy and fortunately they found an earlier slot. The interview process took about an hour, but CNI obtained!!!
After this we had to get the licence and with the assistance of some very helpful officials at the Santa Rosa City Hall, we obtained this in time for the wedding, a huge thanks to everyone involved.

•                The amount of stuff needed for a wedding here is mind boggling, and that is not including the paperwork; candles, communion hosts, bibles, coins, lighters (for the candles) and so on and so forth. Kat and I spent a few hours chasing around to source these, not sure it should have been down to us, but that is another argument for another time.

•                A few friends came over from the UK for the wedding. On their first night here, we went out for a beer or two and something to eat, however two of them decided that this was too good an opportunity to miss and decided to stay out after the rest of us went back to the hotel. The next morning we discovered they had persuaded a tricycle driver to take them from Tagatay City to Alfonso, Cavite a distance of well over 10km at 3am. I was able to see the entry in the security officers’ log book relating to the arrival of 2 very drunk male guests at 3.30am, they were otherwise very friendly and polite. I just wish I had seen the two of them on the tricycle, it would have been priceless. Thanks to the tricycle driver for putting up with them.

•                The next night, we met up with Kat’s sisters for supper; well, this started in a most inauspicious way, the restaurant bar we chose was empty and it looked like the staff had gone home. After we managed to get some attention and the beer bucket left on the table, the food came out and was very good, the beer flowed and we started in on the Karaoke, I am now banned from singing any Tom Jones songs for life!!!
I transpired that we had chosen a particularly difficult place from which to get back to our hotel, and unlike the night before, there were no accommodating tricycle drivers around. We did however flag down a bus, which was going through Alfonso and much to the amusement of the local passengers, we clambered aboard to get back to Hillcreek Gardens. Thanks to the driver for stopping to pick up a bunch of slightly drunk foreigners from the side of the road.

•                The wedding itself was a roller coaster, the weather made an unwelcome appearance in the form of a thundery shower about 40 minutes before the ceremony was due to start, this delayed a whole bunch of photos being taken, mostly of the bride and pushed the whole thing back about an hour. We had already discussed a contingency if the weather did threaten the day, fortunately, this was not required as the rain cleared fairly quickly. Unlike in the UK where guests and members of the wedding party are pretty much left to themselves, our wedding planners organised things like a military operation, which was probably just as well since some of the adult party members kept wandering off to talk to old friends and colleagues, it was however perhaps a little too organised for me at times.

•                Boracay, well, what can I say, great beaches, good food and excellent weather for the most part, nice big tricycles (why can’t they all be this size everywhere else in the Philippines?).  The island reminds me of places in Egypt and to an extent Puerto Galera, all the glitz is on the beach and the few hundred metres back as you enter the main resort hotels, but the other parts of the island haven’t received quite as much TLC and probably don’t get visited by the majority of the tourists.
Whilst we were here I managed to break my spectacles, which were a designer pair with complex progressive focus lenses. I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to replace them like for like and would no doubt need to buy a pair of reading glasses until I could get back to Laguna and have a full eye check. Imagine my surprise, when rather than trying to sell me a new pair of glasses, the lady optician offered to reshape my existing lenses to fit a new, relatively cheap but none the less attractive frame and all for the cost of the frame, no additional fee; bargain!! It transpired that the lenses were of a tough acrylic material and the job took nearly 4 hours rather than the anticipated 30 mins. Thank you Doctora, you saved my sanity as I am still using those frames as I write this.

•                We moved onto Cebu, which was also very nice, the 5* hotel was amazing, we could have spent the entire week on the campus there, only leaving for swimming in the sea. Keen on exploring one of the other major cities in the Philippines, Kat and I headed off to the SM Mall (where else) for a bit of shopping and to watch the new Star Trek movie at the IMAX theatre, great experience.

That’s pretty much it for the moment, I am still baffled by the attitude of drivers and motor cyclists when it comes to lights and as for the tyres on some trucks and jeepnies, totally bereft of tread, great for grip on dry roads, but useless on the wet ones we are starting to have as the rainy season approaches, doesn't make me feel any safer when driving.