Here's one of the best examples of governance gone bad: it's actually a LOT more difficult to get a student license than a normal one.
FYI to those not familiar: A student's driving license is available to those who are 16 years old. It's not all that really. A person with a student driver's license can only drive if accompanied by a person who has a professional driving license. For something that's not really all that great, it sure takes a lot more procedures to actually get this done.
Here's what a 16 year old has to do to do it the "right" way (not bribing anyone and actually sticking to the rules)
1. The Land Transportation Office (LTO) does not have a website stating how to apply for one. So normally, a person would have to the nearest LTO office in order to get a form. (edit: apparently, the LTO HAS A WEBSITE! *applause*)
2. When the guy gets a form, he's told that he needs a Tax Identification Number (TIN) that he's supposed to jot down in the upper left (or right, I cannot recall) of the application form. Of course, the teenager does not know that he's supposed to get one first.
-->This is the part you'd be asking, "What does a TIN have to do with a driver's license?" Believe me, I also do not know. A 16 year old is not required to pay taxes yet anyway.
3. Anyway, the kid would need a TIN. It's not available in the LTO. He has to get it in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) office. The LTO personnel there would just tell the guy, "ah kailangan mong pumunta ng BIR ser (ah you need to go to the BIR sir)". So naturally, not knowing what's happening, the kid will just follow the guy and go to the nearest BIR office.
4. Upon arriving at the BIR office to apply for a TIN, he would be told that because he will only be able to get a TIN if he has two things, a cedula and barangay clearance. Best part about it is, they're both found in 2 different places. A cedula can be found in the local city hall. The barangay clearance can be acquired at the barangay hall.
FYI: A cedula is a piece of paper that costs 5 pesos (maybe more now). It's a piece of paper that's actually pretty useless. It doesn't give anything. If a person loses it, he could just buy another one back.
FYI: A barangay (for those who don't know what it is) clearance is a piece of paper notifying the agency that a person has not committed anything bad in the barangay.
5. So the kid now goes to city hall to get a cedula. He has now gone to 3 offices now in 3 different places. He needed to get the cedula first in order to get barangay clearance.
6. Next, he goes to the barangay hall to get the clearance. And lo and behold! He would still not be able to get it! The person there will tell him that because he's 16, he has to have an authorization letter from the parents allowing him to acquire one!
7. So the guy has to go back home, write a letter and have his parents sign it, and go back to the barangay hall.
8. Finally, he would be able to get the clearance. He now needs to go back to BIR to get his TIN.
9. The kid would finally get his TIN. He now needs to go back to the LTO and be able to finally apply for his student license.
10. Once at the LTO, he faces one last hurdle. After doing everything else, he still would not be able to get his license! He's missing a notarized letter from his parents. So after everything he has gone through, he calls his parents to come over the office to show up and tell the LTO person the kid has consent. Only then will he be able to go through with the application.
11. The kid will wait for 2 hours and finally get the student license.
Summarizing everything...
Total time spent: 8 hours (9am-5pm)
Number of offices the kid had to go to: 4 (5 if you include the trip back home to get the stupid authorization letter for barangay clearance)
Number of steps in order to get the license: 11.
Good governance at its finest. :)
layman
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