A few days ago, a lawyer–friend shared his experience about his applications for a business permit in Quezon City. He got two enterprising individuals who did the work for him. This type of work for a fee is both an enterprising one and legitimate. The fee is modest and you are spared your precious time that otherwise would have been spent queuing and waiting for your turn from one window to another. The local word to describe these enterprising people is ‘fixers’. Is there something wrong about them and this ‘system’ in our present Jurassic bureaucratic processes?

The ready answer is that it is OKAY so long as there are NO evil acts involved, the work is legitimate. People pay for the services rendered and the job is done without much bother and hassle. This means that the so-called ‘fixers’ do no injustice and they do not bribe their way. Instead of you queuing and spending your whole day or half day moving or running from window to another, you engage people who sell their time and services for this purpose. Give them the proper authorization and they deliver. It is all a question of trust and known performance. Their services are known by word of mouth and they guarantee delivery. They, too, have a business and a name to protect.

Fixers in many government institutions proliferate and they are almost permanent ‘fixtures’ in the bureaucracy. Most often, they have mastered the trade that they are much better than the actual bureaucrats who, often appear, as simply waiting for their pay checks with or no work done. Fixers are needed for the simple reasons that time has become precious and an expensive commodity. Busy people do not have the time to waste queuing or waiting for their number to be called.

It is amazing to observe that same culture is now present even in phone centers. For a simple question lodged at service center of either Globe or Smart, you have to wait for hours. Same is true in embassies, city halls, school enrollments, etc. With this waiting and queuing culture, more and more people would demand for the services of enterprising people whose business is to fix your problem either for your lost license, new business permit, file your income tax, file your visa applications, get or renew your passports, etc.

Can we do away with the so called ‘fixers’? There is NONE and no substitute to them in our present queuing and waiting system.

It is interesting to watch the behavior of people on both sides of the window. The one on the other side (the bureaucrat) would always look harassed and overworked and it would take him/her 15 to 30 minutes or more to process whatever paper per client who equally looks tired, bored and harassed. Any mishap in the transaction becomes a riot (exaggerated, of course)! But any scuttle further delays the movement in the queue and temper usually runs high.

To be spared of all the hassle of dealing with the bureaucracy, fixers are ‘invented’ to your rescue. Now, if people need anything from the City Hall, they ask their compadre, friends or associates whom they may recommend to help facilitate the paper work without wasting their time waiting and queuing for their turn.

I believe that the ‘fixers’ are here to stay so long our bureaucracy operates in a Jurassic way. It is truly an ordeal to go through the bureaucratic processes with no one to help you. The alternative is to use modern technology to go through these processes online. We now have renewal of licenses online, birth certificates online, renewal of passports and visa applications online and recently Cebu Pacific has introduced check-in online.

The new technology is good if it works and you have an Internet connection. And in time, the new technology may render ‘fixers’ redundant. But for many more years to come as the bureaucracy is rather slow in adapting to the new culture of modern technology, we still need fixers around! Whether you like it or not, believe in them or not, they are here to stay. What people should watch for is if there is an injustice done and there is bribe that goes in the transactions. Otherwise, the presence and the work of the fixers are legitimate and very enterprising!

Fr. Eliseo Mercado is Senior Policy Adviser at IAG. Follow him on Twitter @junmeromi.