“All’s Well That Ends Well”

This piece has nothing to do with a Shakespearean play. It is rather exactly what it was or is: all’s well that ends well.
It all started with a call for help from a friend whom I have not seen nor heard from for many years. Well, when you are in this part of the globe it is quite normal not to see each other, even relatives, for long periods of time. We are all busy with work, day in and day out. When we are off work we are busy with all other tasks, errands that we can’t do while working.
We really are in a rut. Life shouldn’t be really like this. But that’s another story.
Now, back to the friend whom I haven’t seen for a long time; thanks to facebook, both he and his sister found me and then we found each other. Here the story began.
Alvin and Claire (I’m using aliases here as they requested not to be named, they are private citizens requesting privacy) asked if I could help them in their predicament — Alvin’s actually.
He needed his Philippine passport renewed as it has expired and a current one is required by Citizenship and Immigration Canada so he could have his permanent resident card renewed, without which he couldn’t travel outside of Canada.
It could have been very easy. Simply go to the Philippine Consulate at 161 Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, fill out some forms, submit required photos, click, click, wink, wink, pay the fees, and voila — passport you are.
It was not the case in Alvin’s situation as he lost all his documents: passport, records of it, landing papers, including his Canadian Resident Card — the whole shebang. (Don’t ask me how.)
As required, he filed for a police report and submitted the same to the Philippine Consulate. He paid the fees, filled-out the forms, submitted photographs, and a copy of his birth certificate sent through DHL from Tacloban only to be told that his expired passport number is necessary without which no passport could be issued.
Alvin insisted and quite truthfully that he has no record of it so he couldn’t produce it. In short he has no record at all except what he had already submitted. The consulate staff insisted, in equal truthfulness, that without the passport number Alvin’s request for a new passport couldn’t be processed. In short, magdusa ka! He was not offered any way out which should have been the case.
Alvin and Claire said that the staff that dealt with them was not helpful at all to say the least. This was when I called up Consul Edna Mae Lazaro.
Consul Edna Mae Lazaro at the Philippine Consulate General’s Office in Toronto did something admirable as well as remarkable. Of a case that could have ended on a sour note, to say the least, with a potential to become another fodder to anecdotal stories of ‘bad hair days’ at the Consulate General’s, Lazaro turned it to the opposite. Where other consular staff stopped on a dead end she pursued to find a solution. She personally called Alvin and Claire and patiently explained to them why the request for passport cannot be processed.
She said that the new system requires the passport’s number to be entered and without it the computerized system cannot proceed. In order to do so, a manual search from the Manila office has to be done to find the old passport number and authenticated that such was really issued to Alvin.
The effectiveness of the message depends on how it is delivered. It could have been the same message that the Consul gave as the one originally said by the staff but the way it is delivered most of the time makes the difference. It was the same in this case.
There have been a number of grumblings from those who transact business with the consulate. Those in the live-in-caregiver program, contract workers, balikbayan, entrepreneurs, or potential investors are all customers and must be treated with best customer services employing the much ballyhooed Filipino hospitality as icing.
The last FB message I received from Alvin and Claire was one of profuse thanks. Both just received another call from the Consulate telling them that the Department of Foriegn Affairs in Manila did a manual search and found Alvin’s records. The passport will be issued in two months.
As to the thank yous, I told them, it was Consul Edna Mae Lazaro they should thank. She did something beyond her duty. She is not only a true diplomat but a true Filipino helping another Filipino, especially one in distress.
As to you, keep a record of your documents and keep them in a safe place as next time there will be no Edna Mae Lazaro at the Consulate. This time around, she has put it well to me when I called to thank her, she said: All’s Well That Ends Well.