Law and Order??? (Jane)
Trip Start
Jun 22, 2008
1
31
151
Trip End
Jul 04, 2011
Manila, Luzon, Philippines
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Our poor driver Fher has only been on the job for 6 days and he'd never been in an accident before. Thank God he was there to navigate the system so all I had to do was hand out money and observe. After waiting for an hour for a traffic aid and the police to show up, we were told we needed to go to the police station to fill out reports. We all made our way through the traffic which was bumper to bumper with rain still pouring. It took another half hour to get to the police station even though the drive was probably less than a mile. When we got to the station there was confusion about where to park the cars but we were guided to a spot along the curb. Even though we were at a police station things didn't look to secure so Fher advised me to take all my bags with me. When I got out of the car some guy came out of nowhere with an umbrella to walk me up the street to the door. I didn't argue since lots of times crossing or security guards will do that for you. But this guy didn't look official so I didn't know if he was working with the police, looking for a handout or just being nice. The 3rd option seemed like a longshot but you never know. When we got to the door he didn't seem to be looking for money so I let it go.
Inside the station, a quick look around reminded me that I wasn't in the US anymore. The building appeared to not be maintained in a very long time. The furniture might have been salvaged from a junk yard. On the desks were a few very old manual typewriters. The only computer equipment in sight were some old monitors on top of file cabinets in the room next door. The people helping us were in t-shirts - no official uniforms. Some of the people sent to make copies and take pictures of the damage looked like they had just come off the street looking for a way to make a few pesos doing odd jobs. It wasn't clear to me who was working in an official capacity and who was not.
Speaking of copies and pictures, we were asked to pay for both. Whether this is an officially sanctioned practice or a clever way to make a little extra money wasn't clear. None of the other people seemed surprised and dug into their wallets, so I did too. When I asked people later, they agreed this was suspect. Hopefully they'll put the money toward upgrading the office but I think it's more likely it just went in their pockets.
When the paperwork was complete and the pictures were taken we were finally free to leave. It was still raining and the guy with the umbrella was there waiting for me. But this time Fher had already grabbed the umbrella and put it up for me. That didn't stop my new friend from following us back to the car anyway. He just stood there staring at us when we closed the door. When I got in the car I asked Fher if I was supposed to give him money. "yes mam, you want me to give him 20 pesos"? Sure, why not. Later Russ told me that he read about people who create jobs where none exist because real jobs are hard to come by. It's common to have people offer whatever simple servi\ce they can provide like watching your car in the parking lot or carrying your bags. There are no social programs like welfare or food stamps so people do what they can to get by.
We still have to pick up the accident report at the police station on Friday. So I know there will be more to the story. Fher already questioned whether there will be more money collected when he tries to get the the accident report and it won't surprised if there is.
