At the End of My Rainbow

Do you have days when at the end of your rainbow you find a question mark instead of a pot of gold?    

I do. These last few days seem that way.

Apart from my internet woes with PLDT’s My DSL, which until now (after almost two months) has not been solved, I now also have a passport problem!

Truth is stranger than fiction indeed.

My passport was issued in 2003 and will not expire till 2008. I have been using it for my travels abroad (a total of seven countries). In short, I have been in and out of Philippine Immigration with absolutely no problems.

But upon my arrival in Philippine soil two days ago from Hong Kong, I got a shocking, disconcerting news. The name that registered in the Immigration computer after inputting my passport number wasn’t mine! Someone else has just left the country with my passport number! Her first name is also Grace and her last name is also Chong. But she has a different middle name, nationality, and birth date.

Agitated, spent, hungry, and nursing a fever, I immediately prayed for patience then called my son who’s almost a lawyer. He told me to tell Immigration Officers that they cannot bar his beloved mother (endearment mine) from entering my own country with a document issued by the Philippine government.

To their credit, the Immigration Officers were very helpful. They showed me the data on the computer and explained that I should go to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) immediately to solve the problem. DFA has just instituted a new high-tech computerized system for passport issuance.

Now that my passport number has been assigned to someone else who was apparently allowed to leave the Philippines, I will, in future, be barred from leaving the country by Immigration Officers if I used my passport because it is now a “duplicate!”

Wh-what?! Wh-why?! Wh-why me?!

The burden of proof that I am who I say I am—the original owner of said passport number—suddenly falls on me! And to make matters worse, I am to leave for abroad to conduct a writing seminar in three weeks.

Only by a mega dosage of grace was I able to get out of Immigration without losing my cool. I kept my composure even after my son told me that no matter what inconvenience I am and will be unwittingly saddled with, I will remain helpless. A citizen cannot sue a government entity!

I’ve written and will continue to write tons of letters to the authorities to get answers and solutions. I trust they will come sooner—not later.

My DSL, passport, etc. are reminders of life’s valleys and falls. Whether we deserve them or not, they come, they shock, they disappoint, they are there; sometimes they fester in your heart if you allow them to. I hope, I wish, I pray I will focus instead on the peaks and rises. And look for that pot of gold at the end of my rainbow!

Ah, it’s liberating to set my woes off in writing.