Hi dmac I got mine from Citibank. Since it's an international bank they have a branch in Canada so the draft is easier to clear. They issued the draft using their Canada registered name already.
I read in the forum that paying in your local currency = convenience for applicant, in CAD = convenience for VO. In fact even dun sa instructions sent by VO they also mentioned that CAD is preferred to avoid currency fluctuations that may ultimately lead to application delay. Hence we decided to do it in CAD and at the same time we are outside PH so it was easier and faster for us.
For the acknowledgement, VO will not provide you anything you will really need to wait for your ECAS status to update. Kaya we recommend to do it via courier so that at least you have personal tracking of your own. I also suggest to create a cover letter detailing what the bank draft is for and include the details of your application in it. So far all of our applications and documents have been couriered and never did we need to go back home and so far so good naman lahat. Btw we always use UPS (sent to Canada, Philippines, and US) and all were received successfully.
hope this helps.
