Bawal magpaligaw …
Ano kanyo? Bawal magpaligaw ng hayop? Di kaya ang bawal eh ang magpaligaw sa hayop … teka teka ano kanyo ang bawal?
The Ineptitude of the Olivarez College Registrar’s Office
Last 27 January I requested a Form 137 (Secondary Student’s Permanent Record) from the Registrar’s office at Olivarez College where my son Xavier Lourenco Kapauan Cortes goes to school, now currently in Fourth Year High School. The document was a requirement of the UP College Admissions office, after Xavier passed the UPCAT exams, but is currently with Pending Case status. They need the Form 137 to compute for the University Predicted Grade (UPG) prior to giving the passing student a student number.
After much discussion and travail I was told that the requested document will be ready on Friday morning, 30 January 2009.
And ready it was indeed, with my son’s name misspelled (Cortez instead of Cortes) twice in the document, and on the envelope as well.
My husband and I showed the mistakes to the person in charge, Wilbert (whose last name I do not know), who said we had to wait for the Registrar to countersign the corrected mistakes. When I asked how long we had to wait, he could not give me an answer. So I said anyone in charge of the office can countersign as long as the corrections were countersigned.
This is something about Olivarez College that I could never comprehend in all of the four years that my son has gone to high school here. THEY COULD NEVER SPELL HIS NAME CORRECTLY. My son’s name which is clearly on his birth certificate is XAVIER LOURENCO KAPAUAN CORTES. Read it once, read it twice, read it three times. I always wrote it in all caps just to be on the safe side, on all school documents we had to fill up.
But there was always the report card with the name spelled incorrectly, the name tag on the shirt misspelled and the ID card as well had to be returned so that a new one with the correct spelling could be issued.
But a FORM 137 is a PERMANENT record, and if the Olivarez College Registrar’s office can’t get that right, what does it say about them?
So armed with countersigned Form 137, Sam went to on Diliman to submit the UPCAT pending requirement. It was UP Diliman Admissions who found the anomaly in the final grade indicated for Technology and Livelihood Education: what should have been an 80+ or 90+ grade as for every other subject listed, had been entered as “5″.
Sam was telling me this over the phone as I sat, dumbfounded, behind my table at work. Sam said Diliman was asking for the form again, this time with no mistakes, corrections or countersignatures.
I picked up the phone to Olivarez and asked for the Registar’s Office again, this time demanding to talk to the registrar him/herself. I have never met the Registrar at Olivarez, it was always this team of young people in the main office with the glass windows that I saw each time I was there. I spoke to Wilbert again, and demanded a Form 137 that is perfect in every aspect that will be ready on Monday February 2 at 8 in the morning and that I refuse to pay for a second time because I do not pay for ineptitude.
And then, Wilbert of the Olivarez College registar’s office told me in a loud voice that this was all my fault. Kasalanan nyo naman ito ma’am eh, sinabi ko naman sa inyo na three weeks ang ganitong dokumento, pero kayo ang nagpumilit ng makuha ng tatlong araw.
He said that. Yes, he said that.
It was then that I realized that this Wilbert of Olivarez College Registrar’s office had no idea of what life beyond his glass windows was like, and that certainly he did not know what the UPCAT was and why I was demanding perfection.
I reiterated my demand to have a completed perfect form ready by Monday morning. Wilbert of Olivarez College Registrar retorted: “Ma’am kahit bukas.”
I told him it was Saturday tomorrow and they may be closed. He said they were open in the morning.
I am almost sorry I sent my son to this school for four years. If this Wilbert of Olivarez College Registrar’s office is a product of this same college, then it’s best that I get my son out of there as soon as I can.
**Update**
Later that day I called up Teacher Jenny at the High School Guidance Office and told her about my encounter with the registrar’s office. Apparently she knew about Maui’s having passed the UPCAT, and so volunteered to visit the registrar’s office to see if she can do anything to sort the matter out.
Shortly before three o’clock in the afternoon I received a text message from Teacher Jen saying:
Ms. Gaerlan, Ms. Jen here. Just want 2 inform you that Xavier’s form 137 is now ready 4 pick up. We do apologize 4 wt hapn ds am. God bless.
I thanked her in return, but decided to go Saturday morning instead, as I still had to finish the workday at the office, although I admit I was practically useless the entire morning.
And now we do have the New, Real, Updated Form 137. Better printout than the last one as well. Wilbert Bonifacio (I realized it was he himself who prepared the original mistake-riddled form) was not around when I arrived. But Noreen was there to help me. She even lent me a transparent ruler when she saw that I wanted to check and compare each and every entry from the bad version with this new and improved (print-wise) document.
I asked Noreen if she knew whether the published email addresses on the Olivarez website were still active. She said that all emails were received at the MIS Department and then forwarded to the proper recipients. I asked this question because I had sent a letter of complaint via email addressed to all the email addresses I found on the website.
I thanked Noreen for her time, turned over the bad Form 137 and left.
Next update: Monday, Feb 2 2008.
Almost there, SSS
Two weeks ago I wrote about my pleasant experience at the Social Security System (SSS) Branch in Pasay at the HK Sun Plaza on Macapagal Street near Blue Wave and right beside the PNB Head Office.
The two weeks that they told me to wait after having paid the tiny but forgotten balance on my last salary loan was almost up, so just before going to bed last night I checked the SSS online inquiry system and voila, indeed they had already credited my payment. In truth I checked (actually kept checking) one week after, just in case they would outdo themselves, but no. Two weeks they said it would be and two weeks it was.
A couple of days ago our HR team was at the SSS seminar for companies explaining why the online system works (or rather doesn’t work) the way it does. This was because of a misunderstanding between SSS and the development company they hired to develop the computerized system, the ID system in particular. Simply put, a change in the specifications presented by the SSS to the developer has resulted in an impasse on what should be finished and what should be paid for. If you work in a development environment, you will know what a rigid impasse this is, as elliptical as a chicken and egg case.
Anyway, I’m off to the SSS today to file my loan. As for the rumors that you should take advantage of your SSS loan benefit because someone else might use it, it’s true, but not in the way some people think. More on that after I gather several experts’ opinions.
Confessions of a Drama Queen/Stage Mom
Also known as “The saga of an UPCAT Pending Case”
Update: January 27
Spurred on by Shane Hermogenes‘s post I called UP Admissions last Monday, Jan 26, and was told that we needed to submit a Certified True Copy of Maui’s Transcript of Records from his current school Olivarez College. I seem to recall that the online version of the UPCAT admission form did not have matching subject titles for what they have in Olivarez based on Maui’s latest report card, so I guess that must the issue.
No problem, I told UP admissions, we’ll try to get it as soon as we can. I then called Olivarez College Registar’s Office regarding the request for a transcript. I was told that they only issued Form 137 if the other school requested it. Well they are requesting it, I said, the University of the Philippines is requesting it.
Ay hindi po mam, dapat ang UP po ang mag request sa amin.
I was getting riled up by this red tape so I said, “My son passed the UPCAT, that’s the UP College Admissions Test, but he will not be given a student number if we don’t give them the transcript. This is UP. Can you help my son out here?”
Ay sige po mam, mag submit nalang kayo ng request, ipa-process nalang po namin.
That’s better, I said. How much will it cost?
One hundred pesos po mam.
So I went there this morning to file the request. When I asked the Registrar how long it will be before I can get the Transcript he said:
Three weeks po.
I looked at him to see if he was kidding. Apparently he was not.
Three weeks? No. Unacceptable. I have to have it today, or at least no later than Friday morning this week. My son passed the UPCAT. Do you know what that means? That’s the University of the Philippines College Admissions Test. At least 10 other students from here took the exam, my son is the only one who passed, as far as we know. Shouldn’t that be an honor for you? UP has very limited slots, my son could get dropped from the list if you don’t issue the transcript in time. Can’t you help him out here?
The registrar looked at me as if he was trying to comprehend what I had just said. He then went back to his table and returned with a request form for me to fill out. “Mam, punta nalang kayo sa Accounting office para bayaran ito.”
How long before it will be ready?
Balik po kayo sa Friday.
That’s better, I said, but I was thinking “lintek pwede naman palang three days, bakit ako sasabihan ng three weeks?”
With form in hand I crossed over to the Accounting office. I slid the completed form through the glass window, and the girl at the counter searched for my son’s records on her computer.
Ay mam, me balance pa po pala siya, hindi po kami pwedeng mag issue ng Form 137 kung may balance pa.
What are you talking about, I said. My son is still here, he’s not going anywhere till he graduates and you’re not going to let him graduate unless I pay, so you can be sure I will pay. Is there anyone here I should talk to?
The cashier then turned to one of the tables in the back and summarizes my request. When I saw heads shaking, I went into my “my son passed the UPCAT” speech. When it was determined that my son was currently a student and not someone who had left the school with bills pending, my request was approved. So back I went to the registrar’s office, who issued me a claim stub dated Friday, Jan 30.
Good enough, if we can get it in the morning we could do a quick run to Diliman and submit it before the Feb 2 published date that inquiries should be made.
What I don’t understand is Olivarez College’s hesitance to help one of their prized students. Maui has been bringing in honors for Olivarez College ever since first year High School. Just in last year’s PSAP he brought in 3 gold medals, not to mention the other prizes from the previous years. I was not asking for any special consideration, but as far as I know requests for TOR took only three days, not THREE WEEKS.
If the Olivarez College registrar was kidding, it was a really bad joke.
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