With the veterans of World War II and the surviving spouses in the province of Camarines Norte diminishing in number as one by one they are called by their Creator to that “undiscovered country from whose borne no traveler returns,” Roderick Barbado, the new branch manager of Development Bank of the Philippines, introduced another innovation that facilitates withdrawal and deposit transactions for all senior citizens. Before him, the branch manager he replaced assigned a staff to facilitate pension withdrawals by veterans and surviving spouses.
At the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, the security guard on duty, instead of handing me a card number for my turn at a cashier’s window to get my pension, ushered me to Teller No. 1, ahead of the many clients who got there before me. Thinking I was being privileged at the expense of others, I called the attention of the cashier to the matter, but she explained to me that this was part of the bank’s policy to give veterans and surviving spouses special attention and service.
Last March 8, when my wife Trining and I got the Metrobank-Daet branch to withdraw my GSIS pension, the door leading to the ATM machine was still closed. As soon as the security guard on duty saw us, he asked us to go inside the bank; I thought, he just wanted to give us seats where we could wait until the ATM door would be opened. However, upon entering the bank, he led us to the ATM machine, so we could withdraw immediately. The privilege, it seemed, was given to us because we are senior citizens.
To the branch managers and security guards of DBP and Metrobank in Daet, muchas gracias for a job well done.
—GODOFREDO O. PETEZA SR.,
JP Rizal Street,Barangay Camambugan,
Daet, Camarines Norte 4600