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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

How to Get CENOMAR at NSO East Avenue: Planning Fail

                When it came to travelling in Metro Manila, I only have one comfort zone—anywhere along EDSA where LRT 1 and MRT passed through. So when I found out that I needed a CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) as a document I needed for my church a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t very much up to the task, especially when I found out that I had to go to the  main National Statistics Office in East Avenue.


I was like, “How the hell am I supposed to get there?”

I hate travelling, especially during the day. Working at the call center industry has made me a sun-and-traffic-hating brat. What I hate even more than that was travelling to a government office where long queues and even longer processing are to be expected so I put off the task until I realized that almost a month had gone by. I didn’t have anyone else who could request the documents for me because my family is in Laguna, and kuripot as I have always been, I didn’t want to pay P450 for the door-to-door delivery service of NSO when I could get it for only P195 if I personally process it, so amidst the scorching heat at just eight in the morning, I went on my way to meet up with Patrick who agreed to accompany me to East Avenue.

                When I was 18 years old, I got my NSO-certified birth certificate at Caloocan City Hall which is much closer to my apartment but when I called their office, I was told that they no longer had the NSO Serbilis Center there and I had to go to the main office in East Avenue. I searched online for ways on how to go there. I planned to take the MRT to Kamuning and take the buses there that, as I was told, would pass directly in front of NSO. However, Patrick said that there’s a jeepney terminal at SM North that could take us to QC Hall. Now THAT, I wasn’t aware of. Had I known that terminal, I wouldn’t have asked Patrick to accompany me anymore. Unfortunately, I am a geographic idiot and Quezon City is one of my weaknesses, so I didn’t want to risk it and Patrick was more than happy to go with me. That was my first mistake, though, ‘getting him to accompany me’, followed by ‘not knowing the easier route to my destination’.

We reached the Quezon City Hall and took a jeepney along East Avenue to go to the NSO Serbilis Center. When we got there at half past nine, it was already packed. I didn’t anticipate the volume of people. Third mistake: ‘not knowing what time government offices open and not getting there early’. The number I was given was 2541 and it wasn’t even 10 yet.
           
            The first step was filling out the forms. Near the entrance was a counter where a guy gave out forms that needed to be filled out: birth/death certificate, marriage, or CENOMAR request forms. Usually when I made reviews, I take photos but the place was buzzing with activity and I was with Patrick, so there was no time for “selfies”. I squeezed myself into one of the tables where I could fill out the form in comfort while Patrick scouted the area. He came back just before I completed the form and said that the number was still at 1000 and he didn’t want me to wait too long so he took the liberty of checking out the delivery service and said he would just pay for it. Like I said, getting him to accompany was my first mistake. He was impatient and didn’t like waiting too long and he’d just finished work then so he was a little bit cranky. I explained to him that I already knew about that and that’s why I wanted to process it myself because doing so was more economical. I told him he could just go home and leave me there and that I was willing to wait but he insisted. We argued a bit but in the end I succumbed. He wouldn’t leave without me and I didn’t want him to have to wait too long when he was already tired.

            I went to the delivery service counter—a much less crowded area—and I was led to a desk where I had to fill out a small piece of paper. I was told I would no longer need the CENOMAR request form I filled out earlier. The NSO employee made a call on his mobile then passed the phone over to me. It turned out to be the NSO helpdesk rep who would put in the info on their database. It took us about 15 minutes—all thanks to my overly-complicated and misspelled name. (I have two names but my birth certificate bears one without a space in between. I was actually not aware of that until my high school graduation when my adviser confirmed it while she was processing graduation requirements. Before the year 2000, it didn’t matter and I was able to get away with it by just providing  an affidavit for a misspelled name, but when I entered college and processed government documents, changing name was greater hassle so I just stuck with the one-word name. Up to this day, all my documents bear that name. As weird as it looks, I'm thankful for it come NBI clearance application time because I was certain not to have a “hit”.)

            After taking my info, I took down the reference number and I was led to the payment counter. Then that was it! Patrick and I were out and on our way home.

            If I took the online service, I would have saved a lot more for fare which was for two because I dragged Patrick along with me. I computed everything and all in all we spent P853 for fare and food. Wanting to save up, I ended up spending more. Tsk, tsk… Well, I’m just charging it to experience. At least I learned two things today:

1.     If there’s an online service for a government document you need, always—ALWAYS—take advantage of it. You will save time and energy, and in my case, money.

2.       ALWAYS plan ahead to avoid unnecessary hassle.

      As a bonus, I now know how to go to the Quezon City Hall and NSO. Yay to me! Haha. 


            Welcome to the mosh pit that is my mind.
            I have so many ideas that I want to write about. A lot of them have already been put into writing while others are still wrestling around up there, waiting for someone to knock them over into paper (or in this case, online). I have tried my luck keeping a blog since college and I have created multiple ones, on multiple platforms, and on multiple occasions, but life always get in the way and keep me from maintaining them decently.  Hopefully, this will be my thoughts’ permanent resting place. J

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