Complaints vs alleged ‘rude staff,’ ‘palakasan’ at Philippine Embassy aired out on Facebook

The Philippine Embassy building in Washington D.C.

A long-running stream of complaints against the Philippine Embassy over alleged unprofessionalism and impolite behavior of its consular staff has been running on Facebook, and embassy officials say they are waiting for formal complaints to be brought to their attention before taking action.

The post, which was began Feb. 6, 2015, talked about the “rudeness of the staff” and “poor service to fellow Filipinos” whom the FB commenters say are being victims of the “palakasan” (favoritism) system.

“I know palakasan system works at that embassy. Lahat kaming mga walang kakilala nakaranas ng poor service at rudeness nila,” writes one FB user.

Gripes another: “That’s right! Akala ko sa Pilipinas lang my palakasan? Pumunta kami dun ng maaga at pumila tapos nag hihintay na matawag ang number namin, biglang nalang may pumsok na isang Filipina kasi mag re-renew daw ng passport yung kasama. Aba! deretso dun sa window 1? As in WALA SIYANG NUMBER!!! ang narinig ko lang naman eh dati daw siyang empleyado dun…. so what??!!”
Many of the complaints had to do with passport applicants having to wait in line for a long amount of time outside the building in the frigid weather.

“Ang mga kababayan natin na nasa labas tumitigas na ang mga katawan nila sa lamig makatao ba na kahit 15 minutes eh hindi halos tatagal ang body temp especially with the wind blowing. Malaki naman ang reception area ng building niyo Sa ibaba di ba?? Bakit hindi nyo naibahagi sa mga tao na doon sila maghintany until their number is called? … Napakalaki ng Philippine Embassy building pero hindi maishare Sa mga sariling kababayan. Para kanino ba ang serbisyo ninyo? Di ba para sa mga Pilipino? Kailangan pa bang tawagin natin ang pansin ng media para ipahiya natin ang mga sariling Kababayan natin para Lang iayos ang makataong paninilbihan ninyo?”

Actually, they did. One of them contacted The FilAm Metro D.C. calling attention to the Facebook gripes.

Lawyer Arnedo Valera has offered to broker a dialogue between the community and embassy officials. He writes: “‪Isulat ninyo at tutulungan ko kayong lahat sapagbalangkas ng nga reklamong ihahain natin sa Embahada sa isang mapayapa ngunit sa isang determinadong presentadyon sa kanila ! Simulan na ninyong isulat ! Kung meron akong maitutulong agad,pls text or email me asap!”‬

The FilAm Metro D.C. contacted the embassy but was told by an officer they “cannot comment on complaints that they are not aware of.” As of this posting the embassy has not yet received any formal letter of complaint.

The link to the Facebook post started from the wall of one Jeannette Calahong. Here are screen shots of the thread.