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If you are going to drive in PC beginning December 2016, read this


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Just in time for my trip to PC on Tuesday to complete my E Cedula. I hope the closing of offices at 3:30 will allow me time to do everything. I plan to fly in at 9:00 and fly out at about 6:00. It'll cost a bit to change the flight and stay overnight. As Charlie Brown would say, "Rats."

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Bonnie, the big speed bump is at Immigration. Just trying to get in the place is very tough these days and then you need a ticket. A security person saw me waiting in line for that and hustled me to the left side of the front desk for Jubilado service.

The document you require is to be picked up at window # 21.

After that, it's off to the Tribunal Electoral which isn't far from Albrook. The process there takes about an hour but it's up and down stairs at least 3 times.

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Thanks, Keith. A representative of my lawyer is meeting me at the airport and will accompany me through all this. I'm assuming he knows the ropes and maybe has some friends in the offices. It's a mystery to me why this can't be handled at Immigration in David. It's expensive (travel) and time-consuming,two reasons I've put it off for so long.

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Bonnie

You're using the same lawyer I used last year. He makes it all go very smoothly. Don't worry. We did the whole thing in the Tribunal Electoral office. No trip to immigration necessary. But . . . that was then and this is now and this is Panama (TIP)

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50 minutes ago, Bonnie said:

Thanks, Keith. A representative of my lawyer is meeting me at the airport and will accompany me through all this. I'm assuming he knows the ropes and maybe has some friends in the offices. It's a mystery to me why this can't be handled at Immigration in David. It's expensive (travel) and time-consuming,two reasons I've put it off for so long.

Good luck Bonnie. Our experience is that it really is worth all of this time, trouble, and expense. Having a cédula has made administrative and legal things a lot easier for us. One can still get things done with a jubilado card, but there are differences. One for instance, nothing has to change in Panamanian documentation when your US passport number changes (that affects things like car registrations, as one example).

Edited by Bud
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2 hours ago, Bonnie said:

Thanks, Keith. A representative of my lawyer is meeting me at the airport and will accompany me through all this. I'm assuming he knows the ropes and maybe has some friends in the offices. It's a mystery to me why this can't be handled at Immigration in David. It's expensive (travel) and time-consuming,two reasons I've put it off for so long.

I was doing the procedure on my own, just fitting it in on visits to PC for other stuff.

Edited by Keith Woolford
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4 hours ago, Bud said:

Good luck Bonnie. Our experience is that it really is worth all of this time, trouble, and expense. Having a cédula has made administrative and legal things a lot easier for us. One can still get things done with a jubilado card, but there are differences. One for instance, nothing has to change in Panamanian documentation when your US passport number changes (that affects things like car registrations, as one example).

My passport number is not changing for 9 more years.  I have completed all the legal things with banks and the public registry using my pensionado.  Is there any reason for me to get an e-cedula, or should I wait until my passport is nearer to expiration?  I would really like to know how an e-cedula can help me, because the usual things people say don't apply, and I don't want to go through this tedious exercise for no reason.  I do not intend to get Panamanian citizenship, so I don't need it for that.

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I had one instance of a clerk not recognizing the pensionado carnet for identification purposes. I also had trouble getting into the country last spring because I had a copy of my pensionado carnet instead of the original (which look exactly alike to me. I thought I had the original.) I signed some papers at Banco General relating to Bid 4 Boquete and had to go home to get my passport because they wouldn't accept just the pensionado as identification. I'm contemplating changing banks and would need to jump through a lot of hoops without the E Cedula and none with it. As I'm getting older, I'm doing everything I can to make things easier and more convenient. I figure I deserve it.

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I always carry my original pensionado card and a copy of my passport, so two forms of ID.  The passport copy has been accepted everywhere that I have used it.  I don't intend to change banks, so am still wondering if the e-cedula would be a benefit to me.

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Bridge of Americas crawl frustrations

Posted on December 5, 2016 in Panama

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The homeward crawl
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With plans underway to ease the anticipated  Christmas season traffic snarls for Panama motorists, drivers coming from the interior are already frustrated  with the seemingly never ending repairs to the Bridge of the Americas.

On some nights it can take up to two hours to cross a s  two lanes of the bridge are closed for a rehabilitation project that was supposed to be finished months ago, but which has dragged on  without an end in sight.

Public works officials, asked when the project will be finished, don’t have an answer reports La Prensa.

“It’s like a house,” Minister of Public Works Ramon Arosemena said. “You have to keep doing maintenance.”

But for months motorists have watched a house project that seems more focused on taking care of the lawn than it does repairing the roof.

Workers spent months focused on repairing the fence on both sides of the bridge, an aspect of the project that doesn’t seem to be essential to the functioning  of the structure.

The construction company MCM Global, S.A. received the $74 million contract to rehabilitate the bridge, which is more than 50 years old, during the previous administration, but payment problems delayed the project.

In April 2015 Arosemena said that the payment issues had been resolved and that the work would be finished in early 2016.

Now, with frustration over the project growing, the deadline appears to be “unknown.”

Omar López and Darío Solís, two co­workers who get caught in the congestion nightly, say it is

like “penitence” trying to cross the bridge after a long working day.

On a recent night at 10 p.m., they were stopped in traffic at El Chorillo that was moving so slowly that a reporter on foot was able to interview them as they waited.

Gonzalez said that to get to his destination in La Chorrera, it takes up to two hours, with most of the time being spent waiting to cross the bridge.

Arosemena said he sympathizes with the motorists, but he said the work needs to be done. He said he inherited the project from the last government, which neglected the maintenance.

His point: It’s better to have a half­ closed bridge than one that can’t be used at all. But it’s a tough message to sell to motorists who spend hours each day getting to and from work, says

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/bridge-crawl-frustrations-grow

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Chamber of Commerce cool to late traffic snarl plans

Posted on December 5, 2016 in Panama

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PANAMA’S Chamber of Commerce has given a muted approval to the recently announced government measures  to combat  the city’s traffic snarls in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The body labeled the moves which include revised hours for government employees, and “tidal flow” crossings of the Bridge of the Americas as “late”and suggested other moves were needed to produce a greater effect and ease congestion.

In a press release the Chamber said , it is inevitable that in the last weeks of the year, when commercial movement increases, traffic in the avenues will worsen, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of life of citizens.

It noted  that the measures of the Government were “late and will not solve the problem, but will contribute to mitigating congestion.”

The Chamber of Commerce  invited the private sector to collaborate in the mitigation of snarls  by  modifying work schedules, allowing people to work from home

It also the suspension of construction projects on roads and bridge and called for more traffic police to be on duty.

“The medium­ and long­term solution to the transportation problem is to implement a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan

and to accelerate the process of improving the transportation system,” the statement said.”

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/chamber-commerce-cool-late-traffic-snarl-plans

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Traffic easing plan said working

Posted on December 6, 2016 in Panama

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THE TRAFFIC   mitigation plan introduced on the highway from Chorrera to Panama City on  Monday Dec. 5, is working says Police Director Omar  Pinzón.

traffic-inversion 

“The operation has been good,” said Pinzón on Tuesday. It began at 5 a.m. and ended at 7 a.m.

Nevertheless, the police chief asked for the cooperation of drivers to make it more successful.

Pinzón asked drivers not to take their vehicles on the road if they are in poor condition or without fuel, as the subsequent breakdowns tie up traffic.

Pinzón said that traffic was much better on Tuesday as drivers adapted to the new measures

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/traffic-easing-plan-said-working

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InterAmerican highwy

We spent the last week on the coast and spoke to travelers who have been stopped for "speeding" on the Inter American.   They swear they were not speeding and were extremely cautious .  OK so it seems the cops may be into scamming with faux violations for an extra dime in the pocket.   Be aware of this.  If you are a member of RodntDirect and are stopped for one of these scams for money...do call Rodny. and have him help you.  Be careful on the road. Crazy driving seems to be on the increase.

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On 12/6/2016 at 10:03 AM, Moderator_02 said:

MOP is going to suspend the maintenance work on the Bridge during the holiday period.

http://www.prensa.com/sociedad/Puente_de_las_Americas-mop_-ministerio_de_obras_publicas-ramon_arosemena_0_4510799064.html

Edited by Keith Woolford
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Drivers get holiday relief from Bridge traffic snarl

Posted on December 10, 2016 in Panama

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MAINTENANCE work on the Bridge of the Americas will be suspended on  five days over the seasonal holidays to give drivers  some relief from the daily crawl.

Work will sto December 23,24,25, 30 and 31 of and on January 1,

Estela De La Guardia director of special projects of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP said  that work will stop on December 23,24, 25 and 31 and on January 1.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/drivers-get-holiday-relief-bridge-traffic-snarl

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