or something like that.
(ok, maybe the polite term is person of interest)
because i am on the Philippines' "Look Out List". i mean, seriously. doesn't it look like a prank? i'm on the LOL list.
let's have the backstory first.
a couple of weeks ago, i went to the Philippine Embassy to renew my passport. they issue this new fandangled machine-readable (a.k.a. swipe-able) passports and thus a few requirements changed. fine, i went through having my pics taken by a fly-by-night photo studio housed in a small 3rd floor room in one of those dingy suspicious-looking buildings in Avenida, all because the great Philippine Embassy couldn't swing a deal to allow "commercial photography business" in the basement of their building (which they used to), apparently due to the fact that their landlord didn't allow it.
after taking a number to fall in line in a queuing system (where eventually the numbering isn't followed anyway, which is par for the course for Filipinos), i was eventually accommodated by a staffer familiar to me by face. after looking at my papers, he reported to me that i was flagged by the computer and required some clearance. i was dumbfounded.
a little bit more backstory: i was a government scholar for my full 5 year university course, and the price of having free tuition would be to work in the Philippines for the same length of time. if the line of work necessitated having to travel abroad (which it did), i was required to ask permission and procure a clearance letter first. completing more than enough years, i secured a final clearance, which allowed me to travel to the U.S. for further employment, and permanently dismiss the temporary hold order on flying out of the Philippines.
i argued with the embassy staff that how could i be able to
(a) gain employment in the U.S.
(b) renew my passport in the years since
(c) fly home and back just three years ago
without clearance from the Motherland?
show us the letter of clearance, they said.
ok, fine, whatever.
having moved since the last time i renewed my passport, i didn't seem to have a copy of the clearance letter (which leads me to think i didn't need it when i had to renew since i. was. not. on. any. damn. list.). i got a scanned copy of the letter from my family, and returned to the embassy days ago.
and what do you know?
i can't decide on this, its not the original. you have to talk to an officer.
officer says, you're on the Look Out List. yes, like i didn't know that yet.
i posit the same arguments above. officer deftly avoids how the eff that happened and goes back to the point that i am on the list, and they can't do anything about it. they never even check who the heck i am, never look at my (allegedly) unblemished record. the only way out, i was told, is to tell the DFA that i'm not supposed to be on the list in the first place. of course, to do that, i have to ask someone physically back home to do the legwork for me. what happens to someone who has barely any family or acquaintances left?
i can only speculate as to how my name got (back) on the list, or if this is a totally different list. i registered here once to vote (back when they operated a photo studio in the basement) but i never actually voted. maybe they thought i was a fake because i was a no-show. or the latest list of people to watch out for got corrupted, and someone restored a backup copy from the last millennium. or someone has an axe to grind with me, and submitted my name for kicks.
until i get this ironed out, i am officially a man without a country. or a man on the run. going by how information gets distorted after a transfer of hands, i could be a terrorist.
so if i disappear past the publish date of this post, some people may have read it, and i have been 'taken for processing'.
(ok, maybe the polite term is person of interest)
because i am on the Philippines' "Look Out List". i mean, seriously. doesn't it look like a prank? i'm on the LOL list.
let's have the backstory first.
a couple of weeks ago, i went to the Philippine Embassy to renew my passport. they issue this new fandangled machine-readable (a.k.a. swipe-able) passports and thus a few requirements changed. fine, i went through having my pics taken by a fly-by-night photo studio housed in a small 3rd floor room in one of those dingy suspicious-looking buildings in Avenida, all because the great Philippine Embassy couldn't swing a deal to allow "commercial photography business" in the basement of their building (which they used to), apparently due to the fact that their landlord didn't allow it.
after taking a number to fall in line in a queuing system (where eventually the numbering isn't followed anyway, which is par for the course for Filipinos), i was eventually accommodated by a staffer familiar to me by face. after looking at my papers, he reported to me that i was flagged by the computer and required some clearance. i was dumbfounded.
a little bit more backstory: i was a government scholar for my full 5 year university course, and the price of having free tuition would be to work in the Philippines for the same length of time. if the line of work necessitated having to travel abroad (which it did), i was required to ask permission and procure a clearance letter first. completing more than enough years, i secured a final clearance, which allowed me to travel to the U.S. for further employment, and permanently dismiss the temporary hold order on flying out of the Philippines.
i argued with the embassy staff that how could i be able to
(a) gain employment in the U.S.
(b) renew my passport in the years since
(c) fly home and back just three years ago
without clearance from the Motherland?
show us the letter of clearance, they said.
ok, fine, whatever.
having moved since the last time i renewed my passport, i didn't seem to have a copy of the clearance letter (which leads me to think i didn't need it when i had to renew since i. was. not. on. any. damn. list.). i got a scanned copy of the letter from my family, and returned to the embassy days ago.
and what do you know?
i can't decide on this, its not the original. you have to talk to an officer.
officer says, you're on the Look Out List. yes, like i didn't know that yet.
i posit the same arguments above. officer deftly avoids how the eff that happened and goes back to the point that i am on the list, and they can't do anything about it. they never even check who the heck i am, never look at my (allegedly) unblemished record. the only way out, i was told, is to tell the DFA that i'm not supposed to be on the list in the first place. of course, to do that, i have to ask someone physically back home to do the legwork for me. what happens to someone who has barely any family or acquaintances left?
i can only speculate as to how my name got (back) on the list, or if this is a totally different list. i registered here once to vote (back when they operated a photo studio in the basement) but i never actually voted. maybe they thought i was a fake because i was a no-show. or the latest list of people to watch out for got corrupted, and someone restored a backup copy from the last millennium. or someone has an axe to grind with me, and submitted my name for kicks.
until i get this ironed out, i am officially a man without a country. or a man on the run. going by how information gets distorted after a transfer of hands, i could be a terrorist.
so if i disappear past the publish date of this post, some people may have read it, and i have been 'taken for processing'.
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