Quiet, orderly, efficient

For almost a decade now, I've been the one in our family going to the Quezon City Hall to pay for the annual property taxes which each city and municipality in Metro Manila collects from property owners. When I started going, the records were still actual paper documents filed in huge binders which had to be manually searched and photocopied, and forms had to be filled out by hand or typewriter. It was slow, cumbersome, errors were easy to make and I had to be there early just to make sure I finished everything within one day. After a few years of that, I experienced the year that city hall went through its massive computerization program—and it really must have been massive since Quezon City is the largest city in Metro Manila. That year, I had to go through a few extra steps, but knowing that it would ease the entire process in the future, I did everything patiently and willingly. For the past several years, paying property taxes in Quezon City Hall has been easy as pie. I go to the Tax Assessment Lounge where I'm issued a number. When my number comes up on the board, I go to one of 27 counters, hand the clerk my copies of the previous year's receipts, and I'm given my bills. Then I go to the Taxpayer's Lounge where I'm given another number and I just wait my turn to pay. This second lounge has TV screens and taxpayers can get free coffee or hot chocolate from the dispensers at the back (off the photo). I've learned not to get any because with 24 counters here, I never finish the cup before my number comes up. From start to finish, this task now only takes up about 40 minutes of my time. So to Mayor Sonny Belmonte, City Treasurer Victor Endriga, ate (ah-teh, big sister—also used as a term of respect) Nieves who gave me permission to take this photo, and to the many men and women of Quezon City Hall who still believe in the term "public servants": a heartfelt "Thank you."