Time to update the PhilPost system

I’m a third year high school student from Nueva Ecija. I am writing this letter to share my thoughts on the reported delayed delivery by the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) of at least 5,000 parcels, for which delay the Bureau of Customs was blamed. It reminded me of two experiences I have had with PhilPost.

In the summer of 2013, I sent a letter to a friend who resides in nearby Rizal town, Nueva Ecija. (I didn’t have his cell phone number.) I went to the post office in Central Luzon State University to send it. I asked the postmaster what was the quickest way of sending, and he replied it was by Express Delivery Service, which would allow the delivery of the letter to my friend in three days. Upon the opening of our school in June, I was shocked to hear from my friend that the letter I sent him reached him after three weeks. And I am very sure that the postmaster said “days,” not “weeks.”

The other experience involved a package from a family friend who resides in the United States. I got the package from the Muñoz Postal Office but not without paying P50 as fee for whatever reason, I don’t know why but I just let it pass anyway, though I couldn’t help wondering if in other countries recipients are charged additional fees to get their packages.

When I got home, I noticed that it only took one week for the package from the United States, which is thousands of miles from the Philippines, to reach me. I wondered: Why did a package from a place that far away reach me faster than the letter I sent by Express Delivery Service to a neighboring town just 50 kilometers away?

I understand there are real problems within the Bureau of Customs, but PhilPost has its own delivery system. Shouldn’t PhilPost overhaul and update its delivery system for locally bound mail of local origin, especially because it is the object of a lot of complaints about delayed deliveries?

—JUAN GABRIEL L. CIENCIA, corner Purok 3, Bacal 2,

Talavera, Nueva Ecija