e-Epitaph

Sixteen years is a lifetime for some. Visiting Manila after such a long absence has felt as if I've missed out on a lifetime. 

If I try hard enough as I gaze around me, my memory of Metro Manila could still be traced against the present backdrop.  I see a superimposed image of 1988 with that of today that’s sketchy and shaky at best. Thus, it is surreal to be having a renewed sense of belonging while simultaneously feeling like a stranger in my homeland.

Indeed I’ve discovered a whole new metropolis that far exceeds my expectations.  The skyline is beyond recognition. Pasig of two decades ago was a hilly town notoriously known for its “short-time”.  Today its colossal high rises dwarf any city in my state. With their own magnificent architectures, Alabang, Makati and Fort Bonifacio are showcases of twenty-first century cityscapes.

Countless shopping malls have mushroomed everywhere.  They never run empty even before noontime.  A visitor can’t help wonder how such multitudes have so much leisure time in their hands.  This in a country that has been strapped with economic hard times longer than anyone could care to admit.  Notably Greenbelt and Rockwell have upscale fashion houses that could be found only in major cosmopolitan cities. 

Restaurants abound.  Variety of them sprawls throughout the metropolis to meet the city dwellers’ insatiable appetite for good food and fine spirits.  The Pinoy palette couldn’t seek for anything more.

My short visit was enough to enjoy a slice of the vibrant art world of Manila.  I’ve visited a number of galleries, antique shops and museum.  Relatives, good friends and colleagues in the medical profession who’ve become patrons and collectors of fine arts were generous and kind in giving me the low downs and guided tours.  One Ateneo high school classmate even gave me a work of Dopy Doplon as a gift that I shall forever treasure.

Manila is the city of contrast and contradictions.  Beneath all her sophistication and glitzy façade, she is fraught with the glaring and ever-increasing disparity of the haves and have-nots.  Juxtaposed to gated ritzy neighborhoods and those impressive infrastructures of progress are vast colonies of shanties that time has forgotten.

The Pinoys’ unfading warm smiles and resilience during hard-times have been heartening features of their character.  However, they are increasingly eclipsed by the pervasive angst of uncertainty to what the socio-economic future holds. 

A friend from high school who was once my neighbor in Southern California returned home to Manila with his young family in the early nineties.  Charged with entrepreneurial spirit that the country direly needed, he intrepidly pursued a business venture and was met with good success then. In our recent reunion, he candidly admits to the overwhelming difficulties and insecurities very many businesses face today.  Seemingly discouraged, he’s entertaining the prospect of going back to the US. 

The once proud medical profession has its own share of dark tale. With the hope to get gainfully employed by US hospitals in demand of qualified nurses, seasoned physicians and surgeons are jumping into the bandwagon and becoming nurses themselves at such alarming rate.  So much so that enrollment in medical schools is down by a staggering fifty to sixty percent this academic year.  Nursing is boom while medicine is bust.

Manila is peculiar as it is delightful.  In the heels of all the modern edifices and hovering MRT tracks, eternal traffic jams riveted with death-defying drivers smother pedestrians with dark fumes.  Everywhere around me is a sea of text messaging people from all walks of life.  There’s never a dull moment when a Manila resident is all alone with his/her cell phone.  Karaoke remains the national pass time as Pinoys tirelessly sing their blues away. 

No survey of Manila is ever complete without this.  Courting my wife’s sharp censure (though she herself is an exquisite example), I must compliment the timeless charm and beauty of Pinays who unfailingly leave mortal men like me breathless.  Their gift is in large part one of the redeeming qualities of Manila. 

There’s always comfort in constancy.  Pinoy hospitality and generosity especially during tough times are forever unwavering and unrivaled.  The word that I’m in town caused many dear friends who now reside in far flung provinces to flock and throw a feast for me.  Endless lunches and dinners given by family and friends not only fattened my waistline but also filled my heart. 

Manila lives to party.  There was no let down for me.  I came home to attend my silver jubilee homecoming in Loyola Heights and other pre-event parties. Twenty-five years later, our zest for revelry is undiminished.  Unabashed frolicking forty-something turned those nights into parties of a lifetime.  

To borrow the immortal words of Hotdog, hinahanap-hanap kita, Manila.  I pledge it won’t take me another sixteen years to be in your caressing arms again.