ON FOOT: City of San Fernando.

Yes, that is the right term, to settle your road to places by walking and walking. Call it field, call it legwork. But I call it super fun.

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San Fernando is amazing. The Kapampangan culture is alive; you can see genuine calesas as well as “padyak.” The last time I watched a live sarzuela here, I already imagined myself being converted from a sultry Angeleña to sweet Fernandina. I imagined dancing barefoot with background music of polosa and probably kissing the feet of the mayor for his patronage in culture.

On foot is the antidote to cultural ignorance. It is here where feet are glorified. It is how the social climber Cinderella got her fame, the lotus-feet ladies got their desired husbands. Everything to romance. As for me, it is the love to experience the common man’s customs.

For those who do not know, padyak is a foot-operated bicycle with roof and a two-seater body. San Fernando is probably known for this, you can generously see it near the plaza. It is manned by a man, purely, unlike the calesa that shares half of the effort by the industrious horse.

To ride in padyak is also cheaper compared to calesa. Here, you pay the man’s energy, not the animal’s meal. However, both have a minimum rate of P20. A calesa can exceed the fee proportional to how far the place goes. Padyak, they said, will not.

Calesa riding is also classy. I first took a ride in Laoag but we can say the Kapampangan calesa are far more attractive. For padyak, I recalled replacing tricycle ride for it at Barangay Maimpis (still in San Fernando) where the streets are literally narrow (maimpis) and, thus, makes the padyak more profitable.

Both, however, share the same pro-green statement: pollution-free.

But padyak has its own beauty most kikay would not find it sophisticated. Errol Manansala, 28, a padyak driver has given me a road test where I’ve seen the splendor. He toured me around the barangay by this humble bicycle as he curiously talked about local politics and poverty.

The feeling? Fresh air only an open-spaced padyak can deliver. You can see the people moving and can spot your friends easily and shouts, in shrill Kapampangan, ‘Oy? Nokarin ko munta? Tuki ku!”

Each padyak has an attractive piece of mirror, so you can always look at yourself and fixed it before you reach the school or church. There is also an improvised garbage bin, made of large plastic, suka bottle. It is placed either in front of you or near the padyak driver. Really environment friendly.

Errol is expecting his 8th child on the next months so he needed to work harder. It turned out the reason why he spends overtime was this, “Nagsimula ako ng alas-siyete hanggang alas siyete na rin ng gabi. Pambawi lang sana ng baon ng mga anak ko bukas at sa susunod na araw.”

According to him, the regular earnings of a regular driver is P150-P200.

The padyak is also a multi-purpose vehicle. Most owners would use it privately or otherwise.

To buy a brand new padyak, you would need P9,500. Purchasing it through installment raises the price P15,000. If you’re like Errol, you are probably paying it term by term, considering the number of children you have.

Since the job takes a lot of physical stamina, we probably do not expect old men on this trade, unlike in the calesa. This has become noticeable, because when I reached near the plaza, I’ve witnessed young men as drivers on the long line on a street. Around 30 padyaks were lined like dutiful ants that late afternoon, which is said to be the peak hours.

Carefully, I selected a still, serious youth until the rest boys started flocking around us for unknown reasons. I took that as an opportunity to interview. Luckily, the boys, who looked no more or less than 16 to 22 years old, were nice and shared stories. I sensed that most are lying about their nicknames but not their anecdotes.

My initial reaction was to Roel, 17, who quickly hid his cigarette butt when I noticed it. Roel said he just wants extra money and will only drive for two hours.

Dyem, 16, gave the same reason. But he said he would still give some to his younger sibling, who goes to school.

Margel, 22, is satisfied to get just two passengers for that day. He described the job as ‘Mas easy.’

Marvin, who has chinito facial features and who I mistook for a teenager, is already 28. The other boys were always making fun of him but he just laughed about it. He is half Chinese who did not get his father’s surname because he said he is an illegitimate child.

He did not have enough education but working for over four hours a day gets him P150 daily to help out his lonely mother.

Meanwhile, a good man about 40 and an old tanod came to me and gave me facts. Apung Virgilio is one of the tanods in Santa Lucia. Through him, I verified the price mentioned by Errol and the earnings of the young boys.

Apung Virgilio, who was not uniformed that time and was wearing eyeglasses, said “Binabawal talaga naming ang mga bata, yung mga menor de edad. Sa matatanda naman, mga 30 o 40 pwede pa. Pinapayagan lang talaga namen yung mga bata kung ang rason nila ay yung pambayad ng anuman sa pag-aaral.”

Like the other tanod busy working in the street, Apung Virgilio makes sure that the padyak drivers are obliging and that they are neatly in place.

They were.

From the explanations of Apung Virgilio, I learned the exact case of the still, serious youth named John, 16. When asked how young he was and why he chose to drive, he said, “isang pasahero lang po hinihintay ko. Kailangan ko kasi ng P20 para sa test ko bukas.”

What a street-smart kid. John is a Mechanical Engineering freshman at DAVCAT. He might be the only Engineering student who did not think Math as his favorite subject. John is polite and a shy boy. He is thin, oval-faced, and has almost droopy eyes. But he also knows how to smile when I joked, “Sure eme buri ing Algebra or Geometry?”

The padyak in San Fernando is already becoming part of its charming culture. There will always be two kinds of poor people, the good or the bad. For the wiser good, they will pick driving the padyak despite the low pay, thinking it will still be better than stealing on the market.

On foot: San Fernando. And if strolling around later will make your feet ache and calloused, better take off your heels like I did. If not, it’s always best to try a ride on the padyaks. It’s cheap, it’s fun, and it’s gentle to the environment. You would love the San Fernando experience!