The Lengths We Go To (for a police clearance)

[R. Lee 1]

For those who need a police clearance from the Japanese Embassy in Manila.

This is essentially the letter I sent to my fiancé, Richard, on the same day I applied for my Japanese Police Clearance.

Sep 3, 2012: At 8AM, I started calling the US Embassy just that all I could hear from the 301-2000 ext. 5184/5185 was recorded instructions that were played over and over until it bade goodbye. After that, I decided to go to the Japanese Embassy not US Embassy as the Japanese Embassy is nearer (for me). I just tried that because some people say there is this certain letter from the US Embassy that we need to present to the Japanese Embassy so we could acquire the clearance.

At the Embassy (that is not so far from Mall of Asia), guests go through this metal detector or something and so I did the same. It’s right in front of the gate by the way, not really inside the embassy grounds. Next, I deposited my cellphone and ID at the gate and they gave me a visitor's pass and application number. I went inside and was called after a few minutes. I told the Japanese officer at the window that I was requesting for a police clearance and he just asked for my passport, yup- no letter needed. He then gave me an application form and explained the things needed to be written down and gave me a sample form that's been filled out so I had a pattern to follow.

After filling out the form I returned it to the officer. I was instructed to go to Camp Crame in Quezon City. He handed me a paper for finger printing and a slip of paper that had illustrations on how to get to the Camp.

Going to the camp, I was texting Richard for updates, unfortunately, my attempts always failed.

At Camp Crame (which is considerably vast), I went straight to the Crime Laboratory building. Inside the office, a police officer told me I needed to pay first 200 Pesos at the Landbank which was a block away from the building.

So I went to the bank and got a number, it was 65 and the number being served at the time was like 9 and 10. I knew I'd be waiting forever so I snacked a bit. If Richard were with me, he would be asking for water, I know him.

After a little more than an hour, my number was finally called. I got up and paid the 200 Pesos at the window. I went back to the laboratory and there a finger printing ritual took place.

The examiner was a middle-aged woman and when I asked her why I had to do the finger printing there (which is kind of far from the Japanese Embassy), she told me I can express my complaints at the Japanese embassy. Hmmm, ok, I asked her politely, like I always do. Anyway, after hearing what she had to say, I just reciprocated it with my thinking out loud opinion that 'maybe they want the Philippine Government to have a record as well.'

When finger printing was over, the examiner asked me if I had something to wipe my hands with. I said no and she took out a box of like 'Wet Ones' in sachets and told me it's 5Pesos each. I was not surprised at all. People in this other agency did that in the past. Not now though as they have upgraded to using biometrics.

It was raining hard at the time my finger prints were taken. When I got out, there was just light raining, so the folder that I brought was sufficient protection for my noggin. I know.. I should've had an umbrella! But I knew I would have a lot of walking to do so a heavy bag wasn’t recommended . Besides, I am a self-proclaimed weather specialist I knew it would rain but it would stop anyway.

I got to the Japanese Embassy again and returned the paper with finger prints. They gave me this 'exchange slip for police clearance.'

And in case you didn't know, the Japanese Embassy itself doesn't charge for this clearance.

Mission accomplished!

What we do now is wait for about a month , then call the embassy and hopefully the police clearance will have arrived by then. What an experience! We're so grateful nothing so unfavorable occurred along the way. Thank God indeed! (F)