Here are a few thoughts on a question that comes up frequently here on PhilFAQS where we try to answer the most common questions about living in the Philippines. With this one you are not going to get a clear, quick answer from me, but I’ll give you some current guidance and some real world experiences that will help you decide some things for yourself.
Should I Use A Fixer?
One of the joys as well as the hazards of living here in the Philippines is that you can often buy almost anything you want .. or hire someone to get something done for you. Many of these service type arrangements are perfectly legal and sometimes even smart to do, I mean why stand in line for something when you can get someone to stand in line for you?
photo credit: albertopveiga
But of course many of these ‘quick fixes’ are illegal, or bordering so closely on illegal that the average person probably wants nothing to do with them.
There is often a real problem with folks who are new here pondering over the choice of doing it yourself and paying someone else to do it for you. Some facts you might want to use in your decision process:
Often your Filipino friends and family are a poor resource to help you decide. I’ve been advised often that I “couldn’t possibly” do something, especially with a government office, on my own. In many cases, I’ve gone and tried any way and had no problems at all.
Another thing to remember is, most Filipinos (even lawyers, unless they specialize in immigration issues) know next to nothing regarding immigrations office dealings and other legal issues pertaining to foreigners. Why should they, the average American knows little or nothing about immigration/citizenship procedures in the US either .. why would either of them know that much … they are already citizens? When in doubt, try things for yourself first.
Filipinos also often have an inborn sense of not being entitled to anything … so they frequently don’t ask questions. Americans, like me for example, feel we ought to be entitled to anything we want, so I ask for what I want at any office or official place. Sometimes I get told no, but I’ve been told no before. If you don’t ask, it’s for sure you won’t get.
So what has worked well to me is first, research what you rights an obligations are (from an official source, not what you read from ‘some guy on inline’, or worse yet in a bar), who may not know even as much as you do about the subject, and then go follow the steps and do it legally. Believe me, it’s often less trouble that paying someone to try to circumvent the system.
A Filipino lady I know once set out to get herself a passport. There was an error on her birth certificate. Wrong name. You can get a birth certificate corrected via the proper procedures at the Philippine NSO (National Statistics Office). Yes it takes time, you have to fill up some forms and you have top pay a few (legally proscribed fees, not “fixer fees” fees). But it is the right of every Filipino to do so.
(you might like to read my recent “There I Was” post for a little more insight on this whole “not entitled” issue.)
This lady didn’t want to go though this process, so she paid someone to get her a birth certificate that read the way she wanted it to, and then to take that birth certificate to the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and get her a passport. Illegal? Technically yes, but many of us would say, “Oh yeah, but not that illegal, she really wasn’t doing anything criminal, and besides the time, the money, the surly government officials … think of all the hassle she avoided.” True enough. And she did have her shiny new Philippine passport in hand after all.
Well it came to pass that she wanted to get a visa to visit the US. So she filled up the required form, paid the fee (non refundable, of course) and turned in her application and passport to the US Embassy. Came time for her interview with the US consular officer to get her visa. Can you guess what happened?
Her passport
(which was totally forged. Completely to her surprise, her ‘fixer’ just had a phony birth certificate and a phony passport made. I mean why stand in line … fixer see, fixer do)
was confiscated turned over to the Philippine NBI (National Bureau id Investigation). Visa applicant entered into the USCIS (US Customs and Immigration Service) database as attempting to perpetrate immigration fraud. Under existing US State department rules. she also received a lifetime USA entry ban. No entry into the US on any visa, due to the criminal act of signing her name to a false US government document … the visa application.
A consular officer has the right to do this .. no hearing, no judge, no second chances. lie to the US government officially and it’s over, matter closed.
The lady then received a personal visit from an NBI agent regarding her criminal act of buying a fake passport. So far she has escaped any prosecution by cooperating with the NBI to catch the forger/fixer
(an action that could be dangerous in itself … some criminals get downright nasty with people who help the government capture them … being a witness for police on raids in back alleys isn’t my idea of a ‘fun’ evening)
but she is still ‘scarred for life’ legally. You be the judge … was she smart to use a fixer?
Moral of that story? If you do decide to use a fixer, figure out in advance how you will know you are actually getting what you pay for. I can go down to Recto Ave in Quiapo and buy you almost any sort of passport or legal document you want … but it won’t be worth much.
Just recently a reader contacted me about some thoughts he had of moving here to the Philippines. Among other issues he was very concerned about owning land … which for practical purposes is not possible for a foreigner. As we exchanged ideas and information, he relayed to me that he had a solution to the land ownership problem. I was of course curious, thinking he might have discovered a loophole I didn’t know about. His answer:
“Simple, Dave. I know a senior police official there in the Philippines who told me that for a fee, he would get me a report of birth that ‘proved’ I was born in the Philippines.”
Hmmm. Again, leaving aside the debate about just how illegal this sort of record juggling might be, let’s suppose the gentleman decided to ‘push through’ with that idea.
Neither my reader nor his well-meaning ‘fixer’ seems to realize that being born in the Philippines does not make you Filipino and thus eligible to own land.
You are a US citizen if born in the US, a Canadian if born in Canada, but the Philippines does not follow the same system for granting nationality. Where you are born has nothing to do with your citizenship in the Filipino legal sense. The nationality of you parents is what determines you nationality. So even if this fellow went ahead with the scheme that was offered to him, could he legally own and here in the Philippines? Not under the present constitution he couldn’t.
Moral of that story? If you decide to do something that skirts (or breaks) the law, make damn sure the outcome will lead to what you want … the potential ‘fixer’ in this case didn’t even know what law needed to be broken to solve the problem that his potential client faced. 
Anyway, I can’t offer any concrete guidance on this subject. If you want advice, my advice is no, never use a fixer, the outcome is too problematic and you might get more than you bargained for. But everyone’s situation is … well their own situation … so you go ahead and do what you feel is best. I’m an information junky. not a judge.
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Very pertinent post for my partner and me. We need to late register a birth and there simply does not seem to be a way to satisfy the legal requirements. We need affidavits from witnesses to the birth and all the witnesses are long dead.
Now I suspect there are lawful ways around this but I don’t know what they are. Various fixers have offered to get a birth certificate but I believe it would be a forgery just as you suggest and as soon as we tried to use it to apply for a passport, my partner might be in trouble. Although it might be good enough to open a bank account or maybe even get a driver’s licence. So as you say, it’s not an easy decision.
In Australia I would resolve the problem by consulting a a lawyer but that doesn’t seem so easy here either from what I have read. None of our friends or family has ever consulted a lawyer so we would be picking one at random, which doesn’t have much appeal.
So your post is timely and highlights our problems. Now all we need is a solution
.
Yes, I didn’t say I offered solutions .. advice is free, real answers come a little more ‘dearly’. The way to handle it in the Philippines;. in my view is the same as in Australia, hire a competent lawyer. As you point out, it’s not always easy … but certinly there _asre_ competent lawyers here, you just have to search to find one.
I tell you truly, Ken, if I were a Filipino lawyer, I have no doubt I would specialize in these matters, it’s an untapped field of specialization, and it’s very much needed by both foreigners and Filipinos alike. (any lawyers reading this? ontact me if you want some business ideas…
One of my own family members here, in his 80′s, was offered migration to the US sponsored by one of his now US Citizen daughters. His birth certificate is wrong, he never got it fixed in all these years, and he passed up the chance just becuase he can’t stand the hassle and traipsing around the Philippines to correct the problem. Sayang as we say.
Best of luck on your quest, and for you folks young enough to take action? Fix your birth certificates and get your children’s documentation straight, on both the Philippine and foreign side if applicable.
You may never know how valuable a gift that may be in the future.
Dave: When we started the adoption process for Juanito, several documents were offered to be “fixed”. Well, if I had done that, what would happen when we go for his US Citizenship (to which he will be entitled)? You guessed it… DNA testing is standard at the Embassy nowadays. It would hurt HIM, not me. I told the family, “If we really love him, we’ll do this the proper way.”
It’s one thing to save a little time, but something different when dealing with identity, citizenship, and deeds, and titles.
And there are times when ‘doing it right’ just seems impossible … I’ll certainly grant that. But you make an important point … if you are tempted to ‘fix’ something like a drivers license, well, to one way of thinking, so what?. Here today, gone tomorrow.
But if it’s a document that will shape a person’s life … probably long after you are gone … then it is perhaps ad ifferent story.
I wrote an article about this a long time ago .. regarding fuiancee’s birth certificates. It’s only understand able the couple wants to get together as soon as possible, and correcting/changing a birth certificate can be long and drawn out … but if you don’t, the Filipino half of the equation might be stuck with aname s/he can’t stand … because once you enter the US and the first government document spits out of the computer with that Philippine Birth Certificate name, you are pretty well stuck with it.
Great advice as always Dave it’s not always prudent to take the shortcut especially when it comes to being approved for something by the heads of state, they’re smarter then you think … sometimes
.-= Tommy´s last blog ..Access in Paradise =-.
I know. For every object lesson/story with a moral like these. there are people who passed passed over a few thousand Pesos and ‘presyo’ they had a documnet that worked.
As they say online, YMMV. Or perhaps Clint Eastwood had the best line … “Do you feel lucky, well, do ya”?
The Fixers, my advice is for the most part avoid them. While applying for my I-card years ago I hired a fixer, 1 year, $900.00, and a lost US Passport I still had nothing Did it my self less than $100.00. LTO fixers lost my paperwork(s), I started again, by myself it took 20Min. after I got all the new papers. Land transfer. By then I learned and did that myself, very smooth, or as smooth as it can be. Fixers are like that plummer you hired who showed up with no tools. Learn to do it your self as it can be fun.
You are so right based on the expereince I find so far. Aside from the legalities or moralities ibvolved, fixers can be … hpw shall we say it … downright dumb … or careless. You can wind up losing tons of important papers as well as getting the job done ‘wrong’.
i have a story to tell you and hope you can advise me
i have a foreigner live in partner for 3years, his married twice, first is in there place in u.k, and get divorce and second is here in the Philippines , and get separated, he have 1 child in the last married. to make the story short, since they separated we live in together already 3 years now am just scared if something happen to him whats gonna happen to me????he have a property own in the name of his company, and investment in the bank.
my concerned is if something happen to him his daughter can only inherit everything????and nothing even just a little bit for me?? i need your advise
thanks………..
Wella,
Thank you for your courage in sharing this with us. I’m afraid I don’t have a whole lot of advice I can share. The bright spot in all this is that you recognize the position you are in. Sadly, many never do. The first step to solving any problem is to recognize that the problem exists and then to take stock of where you are. The second step, in your case is, you need to decide what outcome you want.
The facts of this case seem to be, this man is still married. As such, your status is pretty much what the Chinese somewhat poetically call the “third one”. You are there, but under the law it is likely you really “aren’t there”.
If you want to stay with this guy, he needs to become unmarried. That means a legal annulment with his current wife, so that you two are free to marry. An (poor, in my view) alternative is to have him place something in your name. As it seems to stand now (and remember, I’m not a lawyer, you need one for valid legal advice), it seems that everything he owns is really still going to the daughter and/or the estranged wife.
When people say, “Don’t get hooked up with married men (or women)”, there is a natural tendency for those who hear that advice to think, “Oh that’s just the advice of someone trying to force their moral beliefs on me … I’ll do as I wish”.
Well, the truth is, it isn’t just about moral principles … I don’t try to impose my morality on anyone. As the many guys I have advised on issues like this (many of whom just get angry and ignore me), actions have consequences. There’s a legal code, especially here in the Philippines, holds marriage sacrosanct. There is very little “wiggle room” for a man who choses to cohabit (that is live as man and wife) with a woman already married, and there seems to be even fewer allowances made for a woman who chooses to cohabit with a man she already knows to be married.
As luck would have it, it is Christmas morning as I write this, and I fear in many ways it isn’t much of a Christmas present to offer up to you … sorry. Perhaps you can take hope in the fact that as I said here in the beginning, the first step in fixing something is the hardest to take, and recognizing the problem is indeed the first step. best of luck with your journey.
Hi Dave;
I feel bad for Wella, as she’s in a no win situation. It’s like the boy friend was given a car, with no title, and no payment book. He’s allowed to drive it for years, and when it breaks he can walk away. If she wants to do the right thing for her, she should walk away first. As in a song by Rodney Crowell – Don’t Let Your Feet Slow You Down.
Me too, Paul, me too. I got the message on Christmas Eve day and I didn’t even want to read it at the time, let alone answer it … but then I figured she might be in a mood where she was anxious to hear back, so I had to do something. So, so many people are in that situation. They think previous marriages don’t mean anything and confuse advice about staying out of them with ‘old farts’ trying to force their moral values on them. The morality issue is strictly up to them, but the legal thorn-thicket they run into … and put any children into, if their be children … is just too, too sad. I try to write cautiously, and, I’ll admit it,sometimes ‘mealy-mouthed’, as a lawyer might, because you never know a person’s mental state when they write you from out of the blue like that.
But thee whole time I was writing, you know the song that was running in my head? “Fifty Ways to Leave our Lover”, Paul Simon ” … let me repeat myself, at the risk of being rude, there must be 50 ways to leave your lover ….”
Dave
OK so don’t use fixers.
How about when dealing directly with local gov’t offices for vehicle registrations drivers liscense etc. Is it common place to on the hand over some Peso to get things faster or for things to be overlooked.
I have been told that this is even common practice to clear customs at the Airport.
Hi Neal,
Is it “common practice.”? No, not that I have observed. However, you have to realize that anything you hear from me is one man’s experience in a sea of close to 100 million people. You may hear a dozen different experiences, from a dozen different guys, and all of them may be telling as close to the truth as they remember. As we say on the ‘net, YMMV.
I also don’t deal with near as many offices in daily life, it seems as I did in the USA … because I have made my life simpler and because there is so often someone to ‘do for you’, legally. It is a good question, though, and excellent one. I should write a separate article on that just because of the amount of stories that circulate … take some time to better explain my point of view. But my short answer is, in three plus years _no_ government official in an office has _ever_ asked me for money ‘under the table’. There are a number of offices that have annoying ‘express’ fees, but when these are presented to you on a government form and you get an official receipt for them, ain’t much you can do about that.
I’ve passed through customs and immigration at least 8 times, and no one has ever asked me for anything. In 2006, my wife and I passed through NAIA with no apparent problem, but my wife told me that as she was going out the door of the customs agent, behind me, she was approached by a customs agent who asked for ‘money for his children’ or something like that. Since we were already _through_ customs it was a pretty stupid time to put the ‘bite’ on someone … all his power was lost. Customs, in particular has spent a small fortune over the years on things like TV surveillance to watch for stuff like that. She told the guy he was insulting the country and his uniform by begging, and if he wanted money from her they would have to go back inside where the cameras could see him. He spun on his heel and left.
That being said, I am no choir boy, I’m from New Jersey. If some guy held a piece of paper in front of me, and said, “Sir there is an additional P500 fee for this,” if I wanted the document P500 worth, I’d probably hand over … but I would sure never offer.
Good article, Dave. It is very hard to change old habits – I think most intentionally work very slow so that you can pay them to speed it up.
Yep, that’s for sure, Ellen. Now there’s certainly a difference between ‘express fees’ than ut and out fixing … at least my New Jersey Morality yardstick says so. But what I have found as a stranger in the land is, it’s often better to just bumble along, from window to window, throwing around a lot of “ma’ams” and “sirs” and just see what happens. I suspect that Filipinos, especially in more complex dealings involved in business probably have a more difficult time … because the less that honest element has become used to getting what they want by just a look, or a well placed clearing of the throat or some kind of ‘signal; that us foreigners are blissfully ignorant of. After 40 plus years of dealing with government offices in many countries, I find the value of acting dumb (often not a challenge for me
) is vastly under-rated. A lot of stories from other foreigners I have heard often involve and element of ‘showing that blankety-blank clerk how dumb s/he was.’ That’s fine if you want to make it your hobby, but I prefer walking out, document in hand and not giving a care if they are gossiping behind me about the ‘bobo kano’. You have to decide, going in, what the desired outcome is, and keep your eye on the prize.
Hi Dave,
You raise some interesting points as usual.
I just cannot understand why people risk using fixers,if it comes back to haunt you eg forged document,its a quick one way deportation ticket and blacklisted for life.
I’m often surprised how many people use fixers for visa extentions,its such a simple process,and staff will answer any queries, no problem.I don’t have any experience of extending in Manila,but most of the sub port BOI offices around the country,you will be in and out within 30 mins,if all paperwork is correct.
regards Chas.
Yep. I really don’t understand it myself, Chas. I think there’s a component to the ‘non-entitled’ feeling as I wrote about in:
http://philfaqs.com/editorials/and-there-i-was/
There is sometimes a feeling that only ‘special’ people can enter offices and ask for things. It boggles a many American’s minds, that for sure … living in the UK you’ll still see alittle of that, especially in some old folks, ‘taht’s not of the likes of us\ type of thinking.
The other reason, I am sure, is just plain old laziness … we’re all humans.