It’s been three weeks since classes resumed for the school year and I am about to have my fourth trip to Manila on Monday to visit my daughter.  Much as I want to stay put in Dagupan and attend to my work, home and other duties, I just can’t because Gem is always on the phone with a litany of complaints about a lot of things in her dorm, of which the latest is the internet connection in her unit.

My daughter stays in a dorm but is not a dorm per sé. It’s actually a condominium unit which she shares with two other students from her school. This condo unit is being subleased  by a custodian duly accredited by the school. This custodian maintains around ten other units where my daughter’s schoolmates are housed (three or four heads in a unit, depending on the size and capacity).  The fee is four grand above 10k (Php), inclusive of two meals a day (breakfast and dinner) and services such as electricity, cable tv, internet, laundry and housekeeping. The unit, of course, is fully furnished but since each room is equipped with an airconditioner, and there are frequently used electrical appliances such as microwave oven and refrigerator,  (not to mention their laptops and other gadgets) the custodian limited the free use of electricity to P2,000. The excess will be paid by the occupants, divided equally among. Fine and fair to me.

Meanwhile, when the internet connection was installed, my daughter told me her room mate’s mom was going to buy a router so they could all go wireless with their laptops. They would just split the cost equally. Well, since I knew routers don’t cost that much, I agreed. But while we were waiting for the router to be purchased, a “technician” came to their unit and installed a router upon the instruction of the custodian. “Well then, that’s great. Tell your room mate to tell her mom not to bother anymore about the router,” I told Gem.

Now the bittersweet part. Ah, indeed, nothing in life comes free. Day after, the custodian called to inform me there was a Php7,060 fee for the router and configuration. Naturally, I demanded for the statement of account so I would know what I was going to pay for. But days passed and I received nothing. Finally, perhaps desperate now to collect the fee from us, she told me the breakdown of the 7thousand pesos she was demanding as thus: Php3,560 for the router and P3,500 for the configuration. My eyebrows raised. P3,500 for configuration? Why, I thought any monkey could do that job!

I know the custodian is in this for business. I fully understand and I have nothing against her  subleasing/custodial business.  Everybody has the right to make decent money. But I believe she has gone too far. I don’t think it’s fair that she takes profit from the supposedly “free services” she promised to give her residents. I refuse to settle the amount she’s asking. I will pay only what is just and due.

On the other hand, I’m just so thankful that the school has been very supportive and willing to lend assistance with regard to the lodging problems of their students. I consulted them about this matter and they have talked to the custodian, advising her not to exact unreasonable fees from the students. I just know she’ll comply, lest her accreditation with the school may suffer.