In praise of government service

My 2017 ended on a high note during the last three regular working days from Dec. 27-29 for I was able to accomplish the following: apply for a postal ID, which will be delivered to me in a few weeks and which, I’m happy to discover, is now also a primary government ID; renew my teacher’s license at the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in Recto, Manila; and most of all, file my income tax return (ITR) for 2016 at long last.

The last one has been a kind of thorn in my side as I had been intending to deal with it early last year. But every time I thought that I would have the chance to do so on a certain date, something urgent came up, getting in the way of my plan and leaving me with no choice but to hold off my ITR filing again … and again … and again.

It feels liberating to have finally gotten this over and done with. My New Year’s resolution, hence, is to file my 2017 ITR way before the April 15 deadline.

In connection with this, I commend the attentiveness and very efficient service of revenue officer Rajid King D. Gamit and assistant revenue district officer Jose G. Luna of Revenue District Office 38 on West Avenue in Quezon City last Dec. 28.

I greatly appreciate the speedy easy-breezy process considering the effort I went through amid my erratic schedule in preparing my ITR-related documents (sans the help of an accountant or a tax assistant) which I gathered from the different studios in Makati where I do freelance voicing work. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

It is worth mentioning that this very positive experience is similar to my past visits to RDO 38 these last several years, so I’m glad that such exemplary work ethic has prevailed through time and even during the holidays. More power to you all over there at RDO 38.

I’d also like to thank the employees at the PRC, the Philippine Postal Corp. branch in Barangay San Antonio on Roosevelt Avenue in Quezon City, and for that matter, all government offices and agencies where transactions are dealt with very efficiently.

Your competence, professionalism and even pleasantness in performing your jobs really have a positive impact on us citizens, and help strengthen our confidence and trust in our country’s public institutions. Carry on, ladies and gentlemen.

God bless you and may you all have a Happy New YEEEAH!

CLAUDE LUCAS C. DESPABILADERAS, [email protected]