In Internet age, postman gives job relevance, a heart

By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Despite his name, he is no potato patch mailman.

Floro “Pol” Camote is a modern-day postman who continues to make his job relevant in the age of the Internet.

Camote, a letter-carrier of the Quezon City Central Post Office, enters seedy slums peopled by pickpockets and robbers, and puts up with threats from thugs just to bring letters, checks and bills to the residents.

“I don’t want to go back to our office with my bag half-full with undelivered mail,” says Camote, 47, in an interview Friday night.

200 households same address

The dedicated mailman has taken an extra step: He has given names (including his own) to streets and assigned numbers to homes in overcrowded communities where, say 200 households have the same mailing address.

That initiative has won him praises from the public, and awards from the Quezon City Post Office, the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) and recently, from the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Camote, together with a slain assistant solicitor general, a jail warden, a school superintendent, a forester, and an auditing examiner, each received the Dangal ng Bayan Award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last Sept. 18.

Trophy, cash, promotion

The award is given to individuals for performing an extraordinary act or service, and consistently demonstrating exemplary ethical behavior in accordance with the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The award comes with a trophy designed by National Artist Napoleon Abueva, P100,000 cash bonus and a promotion.

Camote has been cited for his street-naming and house-numbering initiative (which he replicated wherever he was posted), his fierce promotion of PhilPost products and services, and his dedication to work.

The CSC describes him as a “modern-day” postman who continued to make his job relevant in the age of the Internet. “This kind of service can only come from a public servant who has the interest of many at heart.”

Mind-boggling

After years of doing odd jobs in Manila, Camote, a high school graduate, was hired in 1994 by his neighbor, Eduardo Alcoy, to work at the Quezon City letter carrier section at City Hall.

In his first few weeks of delivering mail to Barangay Holy Spirit, a sprawling, crowded village behind the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City, he was shocked to find that the houses did not have numbers.

“Delivering mail was mind-boggling,” recalls Camote. He proposed a scheme to number the houses but many “turf-conscious” residents put their foot down.

“Some were riled by the idea that their neighbors’ homes would be numbered first, when they had settled ahead of them. They finally agreed after I explained that this was for their own good,” he says.

For the next three weeks, he went from house to house, writing down numbers on doors with a marker pen. Some residents were so amazed by his idea, they offered to name an extension of a street after him, but he refused.

Good idea

In his next assignment in Bago Bantay, Quezon City, Camote encountered the same problem.

“The letter carriers feared going into this territory so they would leave their bag of mail at the store. The snatchers, the pickpockets, they’re all over the place. In my first forays, somebody sneaked up and snatched a letter. Another brandished a knife at me. But I was never harmed,” he says.

He noticed that most of the letters left at the store remained uncollected. Camote again proposed his scheme. With the help of barangay officials, he was able to convince residents to allow him to write numbers on their doors.

Camote, his chief and his colleagues introduced the same system in Barangay Pagasa, which is another community of informal settlers across the Philippine Science High School on Agham Road.

Here, they named some streets after themselves. They were able to deliver mail efficiently which ended the practice of some residents who delivered mail for a fee.

Camote Street

“The day we got mail addressed to Camote Street, I got so excited I delivered the mail myself,” the letter-carrier says, chuckling.

By doing his job, Camote, who is married with three children, believes he is able to impart the value of “accepting letters.”

“One time I delivered a subpoena, but this guy rejected it. I warned him that after rejecting it thrice, he’d get a warrant. I never saw him for a month. The next time I bumped into him, he told me he should have heeded my advice. It turned out he was jailed for a month for robbery and hold-up,” he says.

Close ties

To this day, Camote motors to Bago Bantay to deliver mail between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. In the afternoon, he wears the cap of a liaison officer, and delivers documents to the central post office in Manila.

He used to report for work even on weekends to deliver mail.

Despite his meager income, he doesn’t see himself changing jobs in the next 10 years in spite of the Internet and the popularity of e-mail.

“Nothing beats letters. When you read letters, you feel the emotions,” he says. “In a letter, you can write everything you feel and it doesn’t cost much. It’s just a little slow.”

After 13 years of delivering snail mail, Camote has established close ties with the community and is treated like one of the family.

Winning song

He is invited to lunch after delivering an important letter from abroad. He even gets presents during the holiday season. Some of the residents are so close to him, they ask him to mail their letters.

“I enjoy my job so much. I’ve never felt this way in my previous jobs,” says Camote, who composed “Buhay Kartero,” an inspirational song about a mailman’s dedication to his work.

He performs the song and other compositions with Heber Bartolome’s Banyuhay every Tuesday night at the Conspiracy Bar in Quezon City.

“I think I won the award (Dangal ng Bayan) because of that song,” he says referring to “Buhay Kartero” which won for him a prize from PhilPost a few years ago. “It captures the noble spirit of a mailman who risks life and limb to do his job.”

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