(isinalin po sa Tagalog sa ilalim ng Ingles, salamat po sa pagbasa.)
I HADN’T GONE HOME since my folks celebrated their golden anniversary six and a half years ago.
Three months later Dad died.
It was a mixed blessing since Dad didn’t have to suffer through COVID and all the chaos that came with it.
I’m very happy the family and I were able to renew our bond with our respective families. it was quite emotional also for our NZ-born daughter to realize there was more than the Tagalog that her parents spoke that represented the family ties, culture and history that we left behind. So many friends, contemporaries and memories that we embraced, and embraced us back with open arms!
It’s mixed reviews though with the Philippines that welcomed me back compared to the homeland I left behind.
airport. I don’t care what the bad reviews and travelogues say. I was pretty happy to see the hustle and bustle, especially surrounded by cleaner and more modern facilities in NAIA 3.
To be brutally honest, we will never approach the popularity, efficiency and overall attraction of the regional tourism hubs like HKG , BKK or even KUL but because of the OFW and transit traffic, Ninoy Aquino International will always be a busy place. Continuing improvement to handle volume, accommodations for special travelers particularly OFWs and prioritizing safety and hygiene are absolute musts if we believe in the reality of a national airport as the window to a country’s tourism industry.
However, the constant struggle to keep things moving on schedule towards becoming an airport on the level of our neighbors will never disappear, because of at least two things: corruption and the inconstancy of changing admins.
(Side note: the OFW lane, meant to honor and give our OFWs an easier time, is a “courtesy” in theory but not in practice. Since particular flights carry our overseas workers in bulk, the said lanes end up being jammed with travelers to be processed and actually make it harder for us OFWs. Just get rid of them, I say.)
roads. I can remember riding the bus from Manila to Pangasinan with my ex-girlfriend (now my wife) , a trip that took all of 7 hours. With the new expressways, the road starting out from EDSA ends magically in a Tarlac exit, only 90 minutes away from her hometown, cutting the original trip almost by half.
Fuel expenses that get used for more productivity, more time to run the engine of growth, and more downstream industries that result from increased economic activity. The positive effect of more efficient road systems is infinite. It doesn’t matter to each Filipino which administration was responsible. Additionally, I recalled that the last time we used the CITEX road, we were just a couple. Now there were three of us.
malls and quality of life. i was overwhelmed by the size, aesthetics and continued growth of the malls i visited. it seems that the corporate budget for making the mall experience always more satisfying and appealing was unlimited. Wherever I went, there was a giant mall selling everything and offering every service you needed. Even in the province where I visited my inlaws, there were modest malls that were fast-growing miniatures of their counterparts in metro Manila.
The malls camouflaged an uncomfortable truth that i only began to notice near the end of my stay: From opening to closing, the malls were filled with people, just “malling” or not going around the mall but just strolling around. Far from being “fake” consumers though, they would spend hours and hours enjoying the AC or air-conditioned coolness of the mall, before enjoying a family banquet in one of the more popular franchises the mall provided.
The likeliest guess is, these predominantly are beneficiaries of OFWs regularly remitting foreign exchange home, making them proxy consumers of OFWs supporting the retailers, the malls, and ultimately the national economy year after year.
I can’t end without saying this, definitely not trying to make this political, but it will take more than one term to undo all the damage that the previous administration did. Yes, all presidencies and administrations are corrupt to some extent, but this one encouraged others to join them, with the aptly termed “culture of impunity.”
The lost chances, the stunted momentum, and the subservience to China, all these takes a gargantuan, superhuman effort to fix, make up for, just to set our country on the right path to a better life for all again.
With so much emotion involved, i cried only twice the entire trip.
Can you guess when? It was when we touched down, and when we took off.
It was good to be back.
***** ***** *****
HINDI AKO NAKAUWI mula nang ipagdiwang ng mga magulang ko ang kanilang golden anniversary anim at kalahating taon na ang nakalipas.
Tatlong buwan pagkatapos noon, pumanaw si Dad.
Isang kalungkutang may halong biyaya iyon dahil hindi na niya kinailangang pagdaanan ang COVID at ang lahat ng kaguluhang kasama nito.
Masaya ako’t nagkaroon kami ng pagkakataon ng pamilya ko na muling pagtibayin ang aming ugnayan sa kani-kaniya pamilya. Medyo emosyonal din para sa anak naming ipinanganak sa New Zealand na maunawaan na higit pa sa Tagalog ng mga magulang niya ang kumakatawan sa ugnayan, kultura, at kasaysayan ng pamilyang iniwan namin. Napakaraming kaibigan, kaedad, at alaala ang muli naming niyakap.
Pero halo-halo ang naramdaman ko tungkol sa Pilipinas na muling tumanggap sa akin kumpara sa bayang iniwan ko noon.
airport. Wala akong pakialam sa masasamang review at travelogue. Masaya ako na makita ang sigla at galaw ng mga tao, lalo na’t mas malinis at mas moderno na ang mga pasilidad sa NAIA 3.
Sa totoo lang, hindi natin maaabot ang kasikatan, kahusayan, at pangkalahatang atraksyon ng mga regional tourism hubs tulad ng HKG, BKK, o kahit KUL. Pero dahil sa OFW at transit traffic, mananatiling abala ang Ninoy Aquino International. Ang tuloy-tuloy na pagpapabuti para kayanin ang dami ng pasahero, mas maayos na serbisyo para sa mga espesyal na biyahero lalo na ang mga OFW, at ang pagbibigay-prayoridad sa kaligtasan at kalinisan ay mga bagay na dapat gawin kung naniniwala tayo na ang pambansang paliparan ay bintana ng turismo ng bansa.
Gayunpaman, hindi mawawala ang patuloy na pakikipagbuno para manatiling nasa oras at umabot sa antas ng mga paliparan ng ating mga kapitbahay, dahil sa hindi bababa sa dalawang bagay: korapsyon at pabago-bagong administrasyon.
(Side note: ang OFW lane, na dapat ay parangal at tulong sa mga OFW, ay “courtesy” lang sa teorya pero hindi sa practical. Dahil maraming flights ang sabay-sabay na may malaking bilang ng OFWs, nagkakabuhol-buhol ang pila at mas napapahirapan pa kami. Para sa akin, tanggalin na lang sana.)
roads. Naalala ko pa noong sumasakay kami ng bus mula Manila papuntang Pangasinan kasama ang ex-girlfriend ko (na asawa ko na ngayon), isang biyahe na tumatagal ng pitong oras. Sa mga bagong expressway ngayon, ang rutang nagsisimula sa EDSA ay nagtatapos na lang bigla sa exit ng Tarlac—90 minutes na lang mula ang layo sa hometown niya, halos kalahati ng dating biyahe.
Ang gastusin sa gasolina ay nagagamit na ngayon para sa mas produktibong bagay, mas maraming oras para paandarin ang makina ng pag-unlad, at mas maraming industriyang sumusunod dahil sa masiglang ekonomiya. Walang katapusan ang positibong epekto ng mas mahusay na road systems. Hindi mahalaga sa bawat Pilipino kung aling administrasyon ang gumawa nito. Dagdag pa, naalala ko na noong huli naming ginamit ang CITEX road, dalawa lang kami. Ngayon, tatlo na kami.
malls and quality of life. Nabigla ako sa laki, ganda, at patuloy na paglago ng mga mall na napuntahan ko. Para bang walang limitasyon ang corporate budget para gawing mas kaaya-aya at kasiya-siya ang mall experience. Kahit saan ako pumunta, may higanteng mall na nagbebenta ng lahat at nagbibigay ng lahat ng serbisyong kailangan mo. Kahit sa probinsya kung saan nakatira ang mga in-laws ko, may mga mall na mas maliit pero mabilis lumalaki na parang mini-version ng mga nasa Metro Manila.
Pero tinatakpan ng mga mall ang isang hindi maiwasang katotohanan na napansin ko bandang huli: mula bukas hanggang sarado, punô ang mga mall ng mga taong nag-“mo-malling”—hindi namimili, kundi naglalakad-lakad lang. Hindi sila “fake” consumers; ginugugol nila ang oras sa lamig ng aircon bago maghapunan ng pamilya sa isa sa mga sikat na kainan sa mall.
Malamang ay karamihan sa kanila ay mga benepisyaryo ng OFWs na regular na nagpapadala ng pera, kaya sila ang nagiging proxy consumers ng OFWs—sumusuporta sa retailers, sa malls, at sa pambansang ekonomiya taon-taon.
***** ***** *****
Hindi ko matatapos ito nang hindi sinasabi ito—hindi ko gustong gawing political, pero higit sa isang termino ang kailangan para ayusin ang pinsalang ginawa ng nakaraang administrasyon. Oo, lahat ng administrasyon ay may bahid ng korapsyon, pero ang isang ito ay nag-udyok pa sa iba na sumama, kaya nga tinawag na “culture of impunity.”
Ang mga nawalang pagkakataon, naputol na momentum, at ang pagiging sunud-sunuran sa China—lahat ito ay nangangailangan ng napakalaking, halos superhuman na pagsisikap para maitama, mapunan, at maituwid ang landas ng bansa tungo sa mas magandang buhay para sa lahat.
Sa dami ng emosyon, dalawang beses lang ako naiyak sa buong biyahe.
Hulaan mo kung kailan. Paglapag, at pag-alis namin.
Ang sarap makabalik.
