so i’ve finally done what i set out to do last week. and for the first time since i arrived in singapore, i stepped onto philippine grounds here in singapore. i’ve always known the embassy was on a posh road off orchard, heard it being mentioned by tour bus guides with a vague gesture pointing to its direction, but i never actually saw the place. i imagined it would be a cluster of those big colonial black and white bungalows that dot the area, transformed into an office compound.

how miserably wrong i was. colonial? yeah, the way an outhouse has colonial roots, maybe. our municipal hall back home would look grand compared to this! it was a bungalow alright, a mid-sized bunker of a bungalow, with rows of windows on one side opening to a porch. the roof was extended to cover the porch, where rows of plastic chairs make up the waiting area. you’d think it being an embassy, there’d be tight security, eh? forget it. anybody can waltz in there, though i can’t imagine why anyone would if they can help it.

considering the thousands of filipinos the embassy is serving here in singapore (think of the consular service fees they collect annually), one would think they could afford a better property, or at least to make the place look a bit more… dignified, i think is the right word. but then, maybe its barriotic feel suits just as well. a more realistic representation of a country down in the dumps.

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