Your Jurisdiction is to Protect

Two stories that struck my 30 something life and these stories happened last Friday and Sunday. You may have encountered such events but honestly, these made me sick to my stomach. I'm posting the first event. Read on and tell me what you think.

When GMA announced that the country is under the state of calamity and that government offices like SSS, PAG-IBIG etc are extending their calamity funds for those affected individuals, many flooded these offices for loan renewals. Who wouldn’t be interested? After all, this is the best time you could make use of your own money, the money that’s being deducted from our payslips on a monthly (or bimonthly) basis.

So last Friday, I made a visit to the SSS office to check my contributions and update my records. There were around 200 people in the office, a thick crowd that could bore yourself to death. I pulled my pocketbook A Thousand Splendid Suns and started to read from where I parked my bookmark. You see, people in the government are entrusted with our records, our confidential records to begin with. These people in that office hope that their records be reviewed and if they’re eligible for loan, be given with what’s due to them.

When a loan officer talked to you about your loans, they can’t play as counselors at the same time. They’re not even celebrity interviewers to know every details on where would you use your loan once granted. These are your money and your money is your business, not theirs. They don’t have the jurisdiction to share their opinions on how your life went, or how you should use your money in the future.

A table nearby is an SSS loan officer talking silently to an elderly man who, based from what I heard from their conversation, is asking for his pension in advance. To my dismay, I heard the loan officer increased her voice by few decibels. I thought she was upset but she’s not. She perfunctory increased her voice so everybody could hear her latest findings about that elderly man she’s assisting with: this elderly man has two wives, that the 2nd wife is a younger girl, and that this man had illegitimate children, that this man’s life is so complicated etc. Imagine me and the other 199 people looked at the same direction, that of the loan officer’s table.

Then came the endless murmurings, some chuckled and some expressed dismay. What a shame that the 200 people in the office learned the story of this man, who, for his love of his life, tried to keep this not-so-good secret to anybody. What a shame that a loan officer declared this man’s life without hesitation and embarrassment as if tearing this man’s clothes to his nudity. Right there and then, I stood and approached the loan officer. And in a mildtone straightforward voice, I told her to drop her cheesy “announcement” and just focus on her jurisdiction to serve the man. I left the office ashamed of this loan officer’s unkindly act. Right there and then, I knew that my confidentiality is gone.

These are the public officers who look good in their uniforms and being paid with the 20% tax every Juan and Maria of this country shell out from their wages, our wages, on a monthly basis. Battleneck!

Image courtesy of cartoon stock dot com
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“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.And medicine, law, business, engineering - these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.”-DPS from Robin Williams.