After months of endless waiting, I finally got my work permit from the UK Home Office and my entry visa from the British Embassy here in Manila. The former took quite a while before I received it and I didn't know the procedure that the Northumbria Uni has to go through so I can't really share any experiences, but the latter I've always had positive experience even with my two previous visit visa applications. It took them a mere eight working days since I applied last September 11 until the actual delivery to my house. Maybe I had given them all the proper documentation and maybe because I had previously been to UK a couple of times, actually my outstanding visit visa is until October 10 because I was there last May for the World Assembly. Or maybe they are just plain efficient.

Now, compare that to my mind-numbing experience with our very own Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in London. I emailed the Phil. Embassy in UK about the provisions they want to see in my contract. I asked them if it's possible to waive one of the two provisions (or even both) since the contract is a generic one (given to everybody who works for the Uni, from the highest to the lowest rank I presume) and I am fully aware that the Uni would not shoulder the airfare going there. No response. After a day or two, I re-send the email to another address posted in their website. Still nothing. I'm a total newbie to this process of applying for a verification of contract, I don't know the back door stuff , I don't have an agency (I fall under the category of name hire based on the POEA website) so I rely on government agencies which should inform me what to do and what the process is, and this is supposed to be the main reason for their existence. I decided to call the DFA Action Center upon the recommendation of a friend working there. Here's how the conversation went:
K: Good morning. I'd like to know how I can communicate with our embassy in UK aside from calling them? I already sent them an email but they're not responding.
DFA: Tawagan nyo na lang.
K: May nakapagsabi po kasi sa akin na the DFA Action Center can call the embassy on my behalf to clarify my queries...
DFA: Ay walang ganon..
K: E ano po pala ang ginagawa ng Action Center?
DFA: Ganito lang sumasagot sa mga nagtatanong.
K: So, the only way to communicate with them is by calling them?
DFA: Oo.
K: Thank you po. Pwede ko po bang makuha ang pangalan nila?
DFA: Ay hindi kami nagbibigay ng pangalan dito.
K: Ha? Ganoon ba...(the other party hung up)

I was so stumped that it took me a second to put down the phone and the absurdity of the conversation dawned on me. So the only thing they do apparently is answer phone calls which that person did incompetently. The other thing is that the person would not want to give her name and actually said that it's the practice of the office. Accountability gone kaput.

I know I'm just expecting too much from our government agency, but every time I deal with one (even with business establishments), I always have this mindset that I'm going to get a good service and a decent exchange from the other party. I guess I just have too much faith in the level of intelligence and common sense of other people. I still believe though that this is the right thing to do. I've worked in the government (in the academe though, which maybe makes it a different environment altogether) and I never did answer a simple I don't know on the phone and never left emails unanswered. I would always acknowledge or give an alternative. I don't want to be a let down. I've always loved my work and I believe that I am efficient, competent and intelligent, that's why I'm in that post. I'm supposed to be the go-to person on things that fall under my remit and I'm supposed to even have an idea on things that are somehow related to what I do and in rarer cases, even beyond. Why can I give 100% on my job while others bask in their mediocrity? Surely there's something wrong with our view of standard and quality service.

I have lots of friends in the government and I know that they work hard and they're very good at what they do. But they're just 10% of the lot. Why should we accept incompetence and inefficiency as the norm and be forgiving and just shrug this off as "ok lang?"

That person at the DFA who answered my call was so unhelpful and a total waste of resources. The email addresses posted at the Phil embassy in the UK website are not working, one is over quota, the other one just fails to receive and the others are simply ignoring my email. I'm thinking of seriously raising hell, not only because of this experience but for the many times that I've put up with other people's shit.

***
Update

My diligent searching in the net paid off ( I hoped), I found another email address (not in the Philemb website!) and re-send my appeal for help. In a few minutes after receiving my email, the labor attache who turned out to be based in Washington DC replied to me and referred my email to her colleague based in London. Now, why can this good lady answer and acknowledge my email in a matter of minutes while others can't?

Infuriating.