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| POLO staff try to cope with surge of the test applicants. |
By Vir B. Lumicao
Over 300 Filipinos beat the deadline for filing applications for the first civil service exam for Filipinos in Hong Kong on Sunday, Nov. 13.
But by the end of the day, only a total of 947 people had registered over the nine-day application period, less than a third of the more than 3,000 who had signified their intention to take the exam.
Labor Attache Jalilo de la Torre said he was a bit upset that the number of registrants was way below expectations, although the final tally could still be bolstered by those who applied in Macau.
“A little disappointed but my take is that those who signed didn’t really have the full commitment to take it. In any case, it’s food for thought for next year’s preparations,” Labatt De la Torre said.
POLO was opened on Friday, Nov 11, and Saturday, Nov 12, to accommodate all those who wanted to register.
But Labatt De la Torre said only 27 came on Friday and 50 on Saturday. On the last day of registration on Sunday, 347 went through the process.
He told The SUN he had asked for the registration deadline to be moved to Nov. 20, but the Civil Service Commission refused.
“I tried extending the deadline to Nov 20 but CSC didn’t agree because of the printing period for the exam materials,” Labatt De la Torre said.
The exam will be held on Nov. 27 at two venues: the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai and at Delia Memorial School Hip Wo in Kwun Tong.
The registration on Sunday was held at the Metrobank office in United Centre in Admiralty, as POLO’s public areas were packed with people processing their contracts and applying for the overseas employment certificate.
Before the registration opened at 8am, hundreds had already lined up, said Metrobank’s remittance manager Fred Valencia. The registration ended at 5pm.
Many of those who registered were heard complaining that they were given only little time to complete the registration requirements, such as copies of their job contracts, Hong Kong IDs, passports and school certificates.
The applicants were made to fill up registration forms, pay the Php1,500 exam fee, and submit the required documents. Afterwards, they had to register online.
Each would-be examinee queued about 30 minutes for her turn to be photographed.
Trisha and her friend Sally told The SUN they lined up for two hours before they were allowed to take the lift up to Metrobank. When they got there, about 30 applicants were still waiting for their turn to be served.
“Nakakain lang po kami noong 1:30 na, pero pasalamat kami at natapos na,” Trisha said.
Friends Hannan and Honey had the same experience. They said the registrants should have been given more time to prepare their documents because they could only do so on their day off.
