My DFA renewal of Passport experience- Not a Horror Story

It was the year 2009 that I got my passport thru a travel agency at the old office in DFA near Plaza Independencia. It wasnt much of an effort at all. My passport's 5 year effectivity will end in March 2014 so I was dreading the renewal of my passport after I heard the horror stories of going to DFA at 3:00 a.m  I googled  DFA policies and some blogs to get some info. Thanks to the bloggers btw, you are the heroes of the IT generation.  I applied for renewal of passport  at DFA on Dec 19 2013, and I want to give some pointers from what I experienced. Hope this will help you.
New Rules FIRST
DFA is located at the 4th floor Pacific Mall in Mandaue City. If you are not from Mandaue City like me, take a taxi getting there.
Issuance of Priority Numbers (If you are not a minor, pwd or a senior citizen, you must get priority number)
9:00 pm to 6:00 am the following day. Pacific Mall will issue a priority number. Present valid ID and old passport if renewal and NSO birth certificate at the guard near the entrance. He will give you an application form to fill up.
6:01-:6:30 am     Setting the"Pila" based on Pacific Mall Priority Numbers
6:31 am onwards DFA will release priority numbers.  The guard will call out your number  and return your valid ID so listen carefully.Surrender the Pacific Mall priority number, and submit valid ID and application form. The priority numbers issued from DFA is not necessarily the same as the Pacific Mall numbers so be alert when the guard calls your number.

I arrived at Pacific Mall Mandaue via taxi at 3:15 am (P 162.50)and was happy that there were only few people around but was suprised that my number was 128. Kaya pala, the guards are releasing as early as 9:00 pm, hayyy lessons learned. I decided not to go home and just wait for 6:00 am. I already downloaded the application form from DFA website and filled it up so i was just merely waiting for the time to arrive. There are no seats  and tables in the area, so its better to have the form filled up in the comforts in your home. Remember to fill up all the data required. BRING BALLPEN.
At 6:00 am, there were already lots of people waiting at the parking lot and the benches. The guard called up instructions of the placement of the line based on numbers,then another wait again. Finally I heard my number called, the guard gave me back my ID then I surrendered it to the DFA and submitted the application form. My 128 number was replaced by 115, and was instructed to come back at 11 am.
One thing I noticed in Pacific mall, its really hard to get a PUJ. There was an ongoing road renovation and even at 7am in the morning, traffic was already heavy and most of the PUJs are already full. I also didnt feel safe waiting beside the road. After about 30 minutes, I decided to get on the Park Mall bound PUJ (instead of SM) then had breakfast at Jolibee at ParkMall. Its better to get a ride at Park Mall terminal since a lot of 01k PUJ's are at the terminal. Much safer place to wait for a ride. Then from Park Mall to SM to UP. Yup 3 rides. I went back to my office at UP to rest and wait for 10 am. I decided not to go home because  of time constraints.  THen 10 am arrived, still I wasnt able to sleep, so I took another taxi (P127.50) to Pacific Mall, then went straight to the fourth floor DFA office. There were so many people waiting outside. I arrived before 11:00 am and the guard said the were still processing no. 70.

The process:
1.  The Front Desk: Accepts your priority number and gives you back the application form and valid ID. He instructs you to have the ID xeroxed. There's a copier inside the office but the line is long so photocopy everything to save time.
2. Acceptance of application form with documents. Theres a sit-down pila inside so ask who is the last person. I apologize to those people in line, I accidently inserted in the line while asking the guy if they gave out numbers. The guy told me to sit down so I did. Little did I know that  i just inserted in the pila. Fortunately I did not hear violent reactions.
For renewal of passport: Application form, Old passport with xerox (first data page and last page), valid ID with xerox,  NSO birth certificate (original and xerox)
For new passport, please visit DFA Site for the list of requirements coz there's more documents that are required.
The person in charge will staple everything and return it to you for the next step.
3. Payment-  Submit your papers at Window 2 then wait for your name to be called. I paid P950 for regular processing . Its better to have P50 ready or the exact amount. There's an option to have your passport mailed but I dont know the rates and I didnt inquire on the procedure. Mas better jud to personally pick up your passport.
5. Encoding- At this point,  I was kinda stuck here for more than hour because of the lunch break.  I was waiting at the pila outside and for almost an hour, the line wasnt moving. I was able to get inside at past 1 pm and there were only 2 windows open. Anyways, there's a tv inside so you dont get bored.
The process: Submit your papers, and pose for the camera. Remember, no earrings and necklace so leave your jewels at home. Also no bangs and ears should be visible, so hair back. I looked so ugly & haggard in my passport photo, it looks more like a prison photo than a passport photo. Even if its a renewal, they are still encoding my info. so watch the screen as they encode your name and other info. Double check, FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, MIDDLE NAME for spelling. Also DATE of BIRTH and Place of Birth. They will print the data for you to sign later so dont be in a hurry to sign the form. CHECK and Double Check.  Then they get your signature, LEFT thumbprint and RIGHT thumb print. The process is really quick and easy. After double checking everything, I signed the form and returned it to the window 7. 
I arrived 10:30 am and finished at exactly 2: pm, more than 3 hours. 
Thanks for the DFA personnel, guards and the people there who responded to my queries.
I checked my cellphone inbox if the office needs me but they didnt text me so I decided to eat. Boy was I hungry.
AFter that I decided to go to the mall's PUJ terminal to check the if I can get a ride there. There were only 2 PUJs, 1 for liloan and another consolacion. So I crossed the scary road again to  wait for a ride. I again took  a PUJ bound for park mall but this time i stopped at EMCOR to ride an AYala Jeep. From there, I went back to UP and did some work.
The process of renewing my passport was easy, but the waking up at dawn just exhausted me. I'm so glad  for the 5 year period before I have to do this again. I hope they have the appointment system at cebu implemented by that time #crossfingers.
IMPORTANT TIPS:  
1. Dont go to DFA unprepared. GOOGLE for info or ask from your friends. I asked the people next to me in  the pila but all of them are first timers. I didnt get useful info.
2. Always prepare small bills and loose change for payments, xerox and transpo.
3. BRING BALLPEN and all your documents. I have a folder that contains important documents just incase  its needed. XEROX  required documents
4. Bring food, water and books to read.  Know where the CR is.

Energen Family Run 2

Dec 8 2013 10k

5:30 am 1:28:12

taxi P127.50 Park mall

My singlet and race bib

 Energen Family run is probably the last run I will participate this December. The moment I read the news of this run, I already decided to join because I am an energen drinker and they give out loot bags for all finishers, of course the contents of the bags are energen products.

The problem was I had a minor accident on saturday. My right foot slipped on some pebbles and I came down hard on my right knee and my two arms tried to protect myself in the fall so I felt sore, as if I ran a half marathon. Still, I was only running for 10k, I decided to run and get my loot bag.

When I arrived at Park Mall, I was surprised at the number of participants, probably more than a thousand. I didnt think the run was well advertised. Anyways, the first thing I did was drop my backpack at the courtesy booth and then joined the zumba warm-up. When the run started at 5:30 am, I had a difficult time running. I was struggling already at 1k, I even started walking after the first kilometer. It was so frustrating, I feel so out of shape. My time was 1:28, it was an okey time for me given the heat and my condition. Whats important is that I finished the run. They also give out finishers shirt for 10 k. Anyways things I noticed

1. presence of distance markers every 1 k and direction markers. I havent seen so many signages and markers in my previous run. Since I'm not from Mandaue City, the directions in every turns has helped me a lot
2. I didnt like the route, I felt like we were running in circles. At one point the 10k runners were joined with 5k, then later on, it was 3k and 10k. You know how you can tell if its 3k or 5k runners, they were walking

3. No snacks. I was expecting this. Just like the milo run. But they do give sample energen.

4. They have this timing chip that you need to attach to the shoelace. I wonder how the barefoot runners will do this. 

   

   Timing chip
   

5. Didnt like the bracelet instead of necklace turning point tie/ribbon. I've seen some on the ground. Necklace is better
6. You can only qualify for the raffle if you finish 10k in 1 hour and 5 minutes. A big BOO! A kid won the lenovo cellphone #jellymode

Finishers & loot bag with contents -all energen flavors

Will I participate next years Energen Run? Maybe.