Finally, Atty. Jax and I succeeded in enrolling ourselves with GSIS’ E-Card Plus!  Some comments if you will:

1. Some people from the GSIS went here sa SC before, pero only those with the old E-Card lang daw pwede kumuha ng E-Card Plus; kaming newbies, dapat sa GSIS-Manila (near Central  Station of the LRT) daw pumunta.  Hassle!

2. Some officemates went earlier to GSIS-Manila…sooooobrang daming tao raw. GSIS was serving daw mga 700ish na that day!

3. Another officemate went on a Saturday to GSIS-Manila…sobrang dami pa rin ng tao.  Before 8am, 500ish na raw si-ne-serve!

4. Bakit kasi those with E-Cards na, kailangang mag-renew?!  What’s with the “Plus”?!

5. The guards at GSIS-Manila are so arrogant, demanding three IDs despite the notice on the wall saying two IDs will do. 

6. Kawawa naman the old man we saw yesterday.  He only had two IDs; ayun, ayaw papasukin.  Tapos, when they found out where Atty. Jax and I work, biglang chika-nicey sila sa amin…hello, equal treatment! 

7. Imagine talaga how difficult it is for the old pensioners to update to E-Card Plus.  Hirap na nga sila to go out and about; tapos where can they get so many IDs pa?  Obviously, karamihan sa kanila wala nang office/company IDs!  No wonder I read a lot of complaints in the newspapers how GSIS E-Card Plus is so non-friendly to pensioners and government workers!

While waiting for our turn in GSIS, I snuck a wee bit to the Civil Registry in Manila City Hall (walking distance lang din naman) to check out how I can get a ‘negative record of birth’ for the rectification of the indicated birth place in my baptismal certificate. Dang, the place is a jungle!  Ang daaaaaaaaaaming tao, ang init, and ang gulo ng pila!  I gave up within the same minute I arrived.  Obviously, to stay would have been a waste of time and effort!

I swear, ang absurd kasi naman ng task na ‘to eh.  I know I wasn’t born in Manila.  This country knows I wasn’t born in Manila!  I insisted and brought an NSO-issued record of my birth certificate to the church which baptized me to show so, pero the people in said church still want me to present a ‘negative record of birth’ from the City of Manila.  Hello? National records vs. Local records in the same country?!