On the upper left hand corner, it stated: Cheque is valid before 15 December 2011.
I learned something today, 28 December 2011, and so did the staff at the HSBC Cubao branch. Check issued checks more closely for this particular phrase. If it has the phrase “Cheque is valid before [date],” then it means that the check must be with the drawee bank the day before said date, in this particular case, it must be with DBS Singapore by 14 December 2011.
By the time my siblings had finished enumerating the ways by which my check from Singapore can be stolen and how my identity can be compromised in order to claim the funds from my foreign check, my heart had sunk with hopelessness.
About three weeks ago, my former employer, Resorts World Sentosa, had informed me that the Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) had a check for me, a tax refund of sorts from the amount I paid on November 2010 when my contract expired and I flew back to the Philippines.
Photo Courtesy of Western Union Philippines
I received a Globe advisory SMS on 25 November 2010:
Send SMS to over 180 destinations worldwide for only Php 0.50 per text! For Php 50, send 100 int’l SMS good for 10 days. Text ITXT 50 to 8888 to register. For list of countries, text ITXT INFO to 8888 for FREE. Till 01/31/11.
With a country that fines littering and spitting, I wasn’t surprised to learn that caning, stringent jail terms and even death are punishments for anything drug related. Recently, however, I found out that its laws are all encompassing for they literally put the law in the authority’s hands by removing the need for proof.
