ESensus and the LGU Rip off

I have always mixed reactions whenever I need to do anything with any government office.  It's usually a mix of frustration, anger, confusion, and I always end up going through the different stages of grief.

Let's talk about the different legal ways the government is screwing us from our hard earned money. For one, why the heck do we always need a new copy of birth certificates?  The info doesn't change, it's still the same security paper, just a different agency requesting for it.

I also already pay 32% income tax, 12 % vat on everything, tax on my imports, tax on my house, my land, whenever I travel etc. No wonder people are mad.

So getting a new copy of NSO certified papers should be an easy thing right? You can order copies from SM, LBC, travel agencies etc. You can also get it from ESensus service centers where you can get a copy in less than 2-3 hours.

So that's convenient right? You can get it right away. But there's a catch. Especially if you're getting it at the Pasig office. What's the catch?  You have to get a Cedula. That's right. That little small paper that only exists to create money for the LGU.  Why do you need one if you're only getting a birth certificate or death certificate?  As per the employees "Yan ang process eh."

Please also take note that they do not provide pens for you to fill out the required forms with.  You have to buy one.  Take note, you have to buy a pen, from someone conveniently selling pens right at the door.

So they will make you fill out a form and ask you for your monthly salary. Nothing less, nothing more.  The computation is salary x 1.35%~.  Imagine you already pay 32% tax and now they're asking you to pay more because you need to transact with them.  Hypothetically let's say you earn p100,000 per month. I don't earn that much per month but the lady at the counter looked at me like I was an alien. She said, Tama ba yan sinulat mo?  Makes you think how much they are earning if they think my measly salary is large.

P100,000x1.35 %= p1350

P1350!!! Imagine that. They ask you to pay that much so you can get a birth certificate which you also have to pay for. Granted, most people earn 10,000-20,000 per month but imagine the burden this additional cost is for low wage earners?  It's outrageous!  That's an additional p200-300 for someone who is probably earning that much per day.

And get this, when I refused to pay that amount the lady behind the counter said Sige babaan na lng natin. Gawin natin p55,000 per month sweldo mo. Whaaaat? Pwede pala Un?  But that's still p750, which in no way I will pay.  So you say why not just put down a salary of 10k per month?  I guess you could. They won't check.  But we already have so much dishonesty in our country I can't get myself to do it.  I'm raised that way.

So until we can get rid of the Cedula and close off any venues for corruption we'll have to put up with this system.  Or, just prepare in advance and just go to SM service center or LBC.

Family Fun: GUAM, USA

Guam, USA

I haven’t written in a while as I’ve been busy with school and work.  As writing goes and as any writer knows, there are times that you just can’t write and at other times you must write.  This is one of those times that my brain just wants to write something.  So here it goes.

We recently had our yearly out of the country family vacation.  For this year, we decided to go to Guam, USA.  For those who don’t know, it’s a small island in the Pacific Ocean that is a US territory.  It’s about a four-hour flight from Manila.  We got our plane tickets quite cheap as Cebu Pacific had one of those sales.  It was about P3000+ each person back and forth.  Plus taxes and everything it came to about P5000+.  Please do note we purchased these tickets one year in advance and planning for the trip took a few months too.  Remember, a good and fun family trip always needs to be planned.  Otherwise you’ll run into tricky situations and it’ll be a disaster.

Also, Guam has a large Filipino presence so don’t be surprised if you run into a lot of locals who speak Tagalog.

Anyways, things you should consider for this trip:

1.       Rent a car.  It’s a must.  For a 7 day stay it cost us $273 for the whole week.  Plus $33 for a full tank of gas.  That’s about P15,000 only and you get to see the entire island of Guam on your own time.  There are several car rental places you can check out but the most affordable one I found was Ace Car Rental services.  They have a website so you can check them out.

2.       Make sure you have lots of $ for shopping, souvenirs, and of course food.

3.       If you’re travelling with children, make sure you bring your own car seat.  Unless you don’t want the hassle and have the $ to pay for the daily charge of renting a car seat.

4.       Swimming attire and water shoes.

After weeks of scouring and looking at hotels we settled on staying at the Hotel Santa Fe.  It’s a locally managed hotel and was quite affordable.  It’s a bit old, room décor was a bit odd, but location wise was great.  It was facing the sunset, had a pool, and was right next to the beach.  Not good for swimming but the view of the sunset was great.

Another great thing about the location was that it was right next to Shirley’s.  It’s a US diner type of restaurant with great food.  You should try the Chamorro sausages.  Bit spicy but quite tasty.  They also have a drink called Chamorro Punch.  Well, it’s basically Hawaiian Punch rebranded, same great taste though.

Driving on Guam

Man!  Driving on Guam was really fun!  I mean,  here in Manila I rarely get to drive because it’s way easier to just hail an Uber or Grab car.  There’s a bit of traffic on the main road but it’s nowhere near Manila traffic so it was fine. 

By driving your own car you can get around the whole island by yourself on your own time.  Nothing better than driving your own car to the beach.  You can probably get around the whole island in a day too.  Driving from the hotel to the very south of the island took about one hour.

Do note that on Guam, there are no street signs.  Or you will rarely see any street signs.  Now this frustrated the hell out of me because I never knew where I was because I’m old school and rely on physical markers and maps.  I had a GPS/map app on my phone but for some reason it didn’t work all the time and maps weren’t updated.  But it was useful so you should get one if you’re really bad with directions.  After driving for a day or two I finally figured out that from Marine Drive you can get to anywhere on the island.  And the fact that I’ve memorized most of the tourist spots and how to get there by looking at the maps and markers.

I had to Google why there was a lack of street signs.  Apparently, it was due to heavy typhoons always knocking around the street signs and breaking them.  Was easier and cheaper to not replace them anymore.

Downside to driving?  One night, while we were driving home to the hotel I could see a cop car way in the distance getting behind us.  And I was thinking, “I hope those lights don’t start flashing.”  And lo and behold!  The sirens go off and the lights flash!  My wife had a panic attack.  Frankly speaking so did I because I was pretty sure I didn’t do anything wrong.  So my wife looks at me and I look at her, and we were like, are we getting pulled over?  The lights keep flashing, cop car still behind us not moving past us so we figured we were being pulled over.  I moved to the side to get ready to talk to the police officer only for the car to zoom past us.  Crisis averted but wife still angry at me.  Go figure.

Places to Visit

Now, I’m just going to list some of the places we visited since I’m travelling with my family.  We didn’t visit hard to reach places since it wasn’t feasible with a pregnant wife and 5 year old.  So the places I will list below will be family friendly.  There are plenty of other beaches on Guam, other places to visit, but below are the family friendly places we visited.  (It’s also budget friendly, so places below have no entrance fees or have minimal entrance fees.)

The Beaches:

Ypao Beach:  A public beach and park with lots of parking space.  From the hotel it was an 8 minute drive and the beach had fine white sand.  Perfect for the family to sunbathe and get wet.  I would suggest the area further from the big hotel as it has less rocks

Inarajan Pools:  Not really a beach but a natural pool.  Great for kids to just kinda bathe in and for you to snorkel.  It’s a bit of a drive to the south of the island.  About an hour drive.

Ritidian Point:  A super nice beach with fine white sand.  A definite must visit.  It’s a bit of an adventure getting there (about a 2-hour drive) on semi-rough, unpaved roads.  It’s a government controlled area so you must leave before 4pm or they lock the gates.  You’ll also be driving next to a security fence for a while.  But the adventure of getting there and seeing the beach is all worth it.  My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the beach.  It was clean and the water was a crystal blue.

Go Shopping and eating:

You must visit all the malls.  Small and large.  It’s a small island so you’ll have plenty of time visiting all the malls.  The food courts also have all the affordable food so if you’re on a tight budget, the mall is the place to go.

The malls are also a short drive away only.  Go ahead and visit the Micronesia Mall, Tumon Sands Plaza, and Guam Premier Outlets.  Either way, if you’re going to the tourist spots, you’ll drive by a mall so might as well visit them too.

Go visit ROSS -  It’s one of those big discount stores with really cheap stuff.  I was able to buy shoes for $20 that are probably going to cost me P4000 in Manila.

Go visit Chuck E. Cheese on Guam.  I know, I know.  But if you have kids this is the place to go.  It’s kinda like TimeZone with pizza.  You can have pizza while the kids play.  It was actually quite fun.  If you don’t want to eat and just want to play, the cheapest package was $10 and you get a bunch of tokens for the games.

Two Lover’s Point – It’s near Micronesia mall.  So you can visit the mall, have lunch.  And after drive to this area.  It has a great view of the ocean.  It was a bit hard to find because of a small sign but the drive there was nice.  You can either go to the viewing area and pay $3+ or go to the restaurant and pay $3+ for a coffee and get the same great view.  I would suggest the restaurant since you get the same view and get coffee/juice to boot.

Chamorro Village -  They have a bunch of small caterers here so you can try out all the local Chamorro food.  They also have the Wednesday night market with locals dancing and souvenir shops all over the place.  Be prepared to go early if you want to visit the night market since parking is hard to find.  Worth a visit if you’re into culture and want some good chow.

Guam Pacific War Museum – It’s a very small private collection of WWII memorabilia.  It has an entrance fee/donation of $3 each if I remember correctly.  Small kids get in for free.  It’s worth it if you like history and the island has lots of history.

The Plaza -  Well, I listed it here again because I’m not sure what the area is really called.  But it’s the area with all the fancy hotels and shopping malls on the Pale San Vitores Road.  It’s a tourist spot but worth a visit especially at night.  It’s the fancy place to be at on Guam.

Places to eat:

Wendy’s – I know!  We have Wendy’s here in the Philippines.  But Wendy’s Philippines doesn’t even come close to the real Wendy’s in the USA.  Try the burgers as they are juicy and large.  Not the bricks of “meat” we have here.  And it’s only around $7+ for a set meal.

Applebee’s – Again, I know.  We have it here in the Philippines.  But yet again, it’s not the same and the menu is way better.  My wife had a lemon chicken thing that she also had here in Manila but she said the one on Guam was way better.   Remember, free softdrink refills.  Drink until you burst.

Panda Express – LOL.  Guilty pleasure.  Man, that orange chicken and fried rice combo is so good.

Jamaican Grill Tumon – Sit outside for the view.  Street view but you could glimpse the beach far way and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  The food was tasty and service was great.

PROA – The one near Ypao Beach.  It’s a small place with lots of tourists.  Worth a visit.  It’s a bit expensive and for dinner and lunch there is a waiting list but good.

So these are just a few things you can actually do on Guam.  There are a lot of other places to visit like the submarine ride and other war museums etc.  But with a minimal amount of cash and time, these are places you can consider on your own trip to Guam.

I have more pictures stashed away but I think Guam should be experienced and this is just a taste of island life.  And as you can tell I have a lot of food pictures posted. LOL.  

If you have any questions on budget, hotels, etc, please do feel free to send me a message.

Enjoy life and keep travelling!