Saturday, October 07, 2006 Wenceslao: Talk with Noel Pelayo By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
Early dawn yesterday, I rode a taxi from our place in Morales St. to the Santo Niño church. On first Fridays, I always take the first mass at five o’clock.
As soon as I got into the front seat, the driver greeted me good morning, which surprised me since I did not expect somebody I did not know to recognize me. I realized later that the driver was well read and had his own mind.
He answered in the affirmative to my question whether they were issued IDs and were supposed to undergo a training seminar as part of the preparation for the Asean summit in December. But he was not happy with the billions of pesos spent for the summit hosting.
The driver talked about how strange are some aspects of Filipino culture. He found it difficult to accept the idea that we are going to spend millions of pesos for a 4-day affair to impress foreign visitors.
“What I mean, Sir Godo,” he said, “is the way we scrimp when we spend on things that our people need, but not when we have to on matters not benefiting our people directly.”
I did not quite understand him until he said that our government has made the summit an excuse for spending millions of pesos on infrastructure, something not considered until it was decided that the summit will be held in Cebu.
“Parihas ra gud na, sir, sa atong fiesta. Mogasto gyud ta pagpa-ayo sa atong balay, pagpalimpiyo sa atong palibot, aron paghatag maayong impression sa mga bisita. Apan di gyud sa ordinaryong okasiyon.”
What makes him wonder is why we don’t do those things for us, or why we need special occasions like the summit or the fiesta to make us do something extra, something special for our own benefit, such as a really thorough cleaning of the house and yard everyday, or the repair of the house or fence at anytime.
We should do these, he said, as a matter of habit, for own good, and not just to impress.
As we crossed Sanciangko St., he turned his attention to the sudden rise of criminality in the city. He said it could be the hard times, the fact that people who are hungry would not hesitate to kill, if necessary.
But he did not agree with the vigilante killings. He said he was not impressed because “ang ilang mga gipatay pulos nagtsinelas lang og goma, wala magsinena’g taas ug bukton ug nagkorbata (because those they killed were only wearing rubber slippers not long sleeve shirts and ties).”
He said that he still has to read in the papers the killing of drug lords, the big-time smugglers and gambling operators. When the vigilante killers start sampling the big time operators of vices in the city, then that may be the time he would think that they really mean business.
When we finally reached the gate of the Basilica, and I paid him the fare with an extra P5 to cover part of their expensive gasoline, I could not help asking him his name, although he looks familiar to me. He smiled broadly and said: Noel Pelayo, sir.”
