In the first weeks that we were here, rather than carry alot of cash, Dominic and I frequented ATMs, and a couple of times I used Banco de Oro ATMs. One time was in SM City mall downtown. I typed on the ATM keypad a request to withdraw from Wachovia too many pesos -I think 25,000, which is to say $609. Oops. I’m not a human calculator like Dominic. I can mentally convert only small sums from pesos to dollars and multiples of forty, as if 40 pesos are worth a dollar.

So I next requested to withdraw PhP 20,000, I think. That transaction was also refused. I then typed PhP 15,000 or PhP 10000, and the ATM refused me and said that it was retaining my card. “Contact your financial institution,” the screen read. Well, that’s a fine ‘how do you do.’ I had no dinero and no card.

I tried phoning Wachovia with my shiny, new cellular phone. The calls were dropped twice. No dice. I hadn’t even talked to a human in the U.S. Much later, at home, Dominic allowed me to use Skype on his PC to call Wachovia. My phone call was transferred from person to person, department to department.

I was questioned at length to verify my identity, and I heard that Wachovia’s “system” had acted as if a Filipino had absconded with a Floridian Wachovia member’s card to try to withdraw money and that it requested that BDO’s machine keep my card for my “protection.”

I asked if I would have cards confiscated every month that I’d insert them in ATMs in the Philippines. Wachovia asked me if I’m here on vacation or business and the duration of my stay. I said that I am here indefinitely and would like to use my Wachovia cards indefinitely.

The next day, I went to town with another Wachovia card to withdraw cash. On a lark, I walked to the offending Banco de Oro branch to inquire about retrieval of my confiscated card. That was no trouble; I just explained when the card was kept and why then gave photo identification. A clerk matched the name on the ID card to that on the Wachovia check card. I signed for it in a log book (a student’s composition book), then I was on my way.

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Get this: March 10, our fifth day in Baguio City, I used a Wachovia card in an ATM to withdraw $245.75. Wachovia recorded the transaction twice and charged me the $4.92 “international service fee” (to exchange currency) twice.

I e-mailed Wachovia within its website (“Contact Us”) to dispute the error. Days later Wachovia issued a “provisional credit” of $245.75 -and refunded the $4.92. Whew.

On March 18, I again used a Wachovia card in an ATM to withdraw cash and, you guessed it: the transaction was recorded twice by Wachovia! On Wachovia.com, I read of two withdrawals of $240.47 on the same date, plus two entries of $4.81 for the “international service fee.” I knew that I had not stood at the ATM and withdrawn PhP 10,000 twice, so I e-mailed Wachovia to dispute that. Days later Wachovia credited my account with $240.47 plus $4.81.

Yesterday I looked at Wachovia.com to see my checking account, and I read that on Wachovia has rescinded its provisional adjustment of $245. Yikes! What the heck? Now I’m in the red! Why? I looked on the website for some way to dispute that and sent an electronic query through Wachovia.com.

This morning I read an e-mail from Wachovia advising me that a message awaits me at Wachovia.com. I didn’t have high hopes for a quick, easy resolution, as today is Sunday, and I didn’t expect that a Wachovia employee had, on a Saturday, solved the problem by crediting my account again nor explained why Wachovia had debited my account.

I logged onto Wachovia.com and read an automated reply to my query/dispute, with “Frequently Asked Questions” to peruse for answers. It also advised me that I can phone 1 800 WACHOVIA 24 hours per day. So I telephoned via the internet (Yahoo Messenger telephony). My phone call was passed from general customer service to the department of disputes, and I asked Tamika why Wachovia debited the $245 again, weeks after a fair adjustment, when I thought that this issue was long-settled.

She read notes from the check card/credit card research department then told me that a Wachovia investigator talked to an employee of the Philippine bank, who claimed that the ATM had malfunctioned and gave to me PhP 10,000 twice in quick succession, so the Philippine bank charged Wachovia PhP 10,000 twice to cover its outlay to me.

What? The ATM did not give me PhP 10,000 a second time! Did someone in the Philippine bank steal 10,000 pesos with my P.I.N., card number and account number, recorded by the bank at the time of my transaction? Someone surreptitiously did a fraudulent transaction with my data? How would the second PhP 10,000 be removed from the ATM without my card? I don’t know. I know that I didn’t receive a second P10,000 and a second receipt by using my card.

If the ATM user after me found the second PhP 10,000 waiting there when (s)he stepped to the machine, I wouldn’t know it. And I didn’t request it. Tamika said that it was reported as a machine malfunction ( I did not request the transaction). So I am confident that this will be resolved in my favor.

I can telephone the research department Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. So I will call. If necessary, I will go to the Philippine bank to dispute this and demand proof that I received a second sum of Php 10,000. No video from the ATM camera can show that. No authentic ATM journal tape can show that. If I don’t get adequate communication or cooperation, Wachovia can dispute this with the local bank, or I will go to Baguio City Police Department or a Philippine business regulation board ( S.E.C.?) or banking commission or the provincial government or the Baguio City Mayor’s Office.

I’m not a Philippine citizen, so I don’t have any sway in any agency; I don’t have a citizen’s voice or a citizen’s rights. But I can allege fraud if necessary, and fraud, graft, theft and corruption are rampant in P.I. in every level of government, from a barangay to the top in Manila. Trust me. It’s in every newspaper that I read each week. More trials and more jail sentencing of elected and appointed officials every week. It would be laughable if it weren’t so shameful. †