Trust in Post agents’ conscientiousness, the key to the postal service in the Philippines

Trust in Post agents’ conscientiousness,

key to the postal service in the Philippines

by Camille le Tallec

MARIKINA CITY- MANILA- Philippines- Waiting for a parcel from abroad, do not expect to get it at home. Instead of that, be ready to visit the surroundings and to learn about how the postal service works in the Philippines. But do not worry. Chances are that after having been a slight confusion, you will eventually get your stuff.

Looking for a parcel sent from France two weeks before, I went to Marikina Post Office on Thursday 6, September 2007. According to the French postal service, my stuff was supposed to reach the Philippines in one week. When I arrived, the Post office agent started to look for my name in each of the five books put on his desk. Indeed, in this office, everything appeared to be manual. Without any computer at disposal to register the daily arrivals, nothing is computerized.

After fifteen minutes, the young man, called Lorenzo Perez, quietly concluded: “unfortunately, Mam’, your parcel is not arrived yet”, he said. Nonetheless, feeling my irritation, he kindly proposed to call me as soon as my parcel was there, instead of sending to my address the traditional recipe indicating the arrival, a process that takes again several days.

Mr. Lorenzo Perez

Back home, a bit worried, I told my roommate about what I looked upon as a lack of efficiency and a loss of time. She had also experienced some difficulties to get a laptop her sister sent from the USA. To get it, she had to go to Pasig Central Post Office, where she was asked to pay 5,000 Pesos for her package to be delivered.

Definitely aroused, my curiosity urged me to inquire more at the time of my second visit to Marikina Post Office. After the early call of Mr. Perez, I went there yesterday afternoon, September 13. I took advantage of the 35 Pesos I was asked to pay to introduce the conversation. In a relaxed atmosphere, both the Post and the Custom Officers appeared inclined to answer my questions.

According to them, the regular stuff such as food is subject to “Custom fees”: “The amount depends on the size of the package, and sometimes, of the content,” the Custom Officer Luigui Caylo told me. As for electronics, they are subject to “Custom taxes”, which explains the high amount my roommate had to pay to get her laptop.

“The content of the package also explains why it remained in Pasig, which is the Custom Bureau for the Markina area.”, they said. Indeed, several options exist in the Philippines or the packages from abroad. The men explained that “The parcels sent by the regular Post service are never supposed to be delivered at home”. According to them, to get a package at the indicated address, it should have been sent by a mail express service such as FEDEX, which is independent from the Postal institution. On the contrary, since the service is postal, the regular parcels stay at the Post Office whereas the Custom Center keeps the staff subject to Customs taxes.

With rudimentary means, the postal service in Marikina seems to work. Its efficiency is probably not maximal, in as much as manual recording takes time and energy. But apparently, the Post Officers do their best. Indeed, they appear as the key to the Postal system in the Philippines. How it works is dependant on their ethical values, all the more since they are the only ones responsible for the records.