You heard President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. on his one hour and eleven minutes State of the Nation (SONA) address. Sa mga pulahan, 'nakakabilib' daw. Sa mga pinklawan 'puro motherhood statements lang daw'. Take your pick. Take sides. But whatever side you are on, the naked truth is that life today is hard. Undisputable! It's far different when I was still growing up in my hometown in Porac, spending time in Angeles and took my college studies in Manila.
MEMORY LANE. Let’s journey back in time when normal is normal. In the early years the rich Capampangans, particularly those living in Manila grouped together and formed a ball club called ‘Man Communidad Pampanguena ‘, a counterpart of the Kahirup ball club of the sugar baron families in Negros and Bacolod City. The demarcation line was drawn between the haves and the haves not. The sugar planters occupied the front seats of cockpits and churches. No poor can sit in the two front row seats. There were poor people who won’t get out of their homes with tattered clothes. (Now it’s fashionable with a ripped jeans, and they cost more). The rich never wore denims. Khaki pants were worn only by town policemen and conductors of the Enriquez owned La Mallorca Pambusco.
Lifestyle evolved over the years.I was still in shorts, and there were only few families in my hometown who owned those encased television sets and what was mostly viewed at nighttime were the Combat series starring Rick Jason, Hawaii Five with Steve Mcgarett and Wild Wild West with Robert Conrad. Now we have the Netflix and YouTube and don’t have to go to theater s.
I remember there was never a traffic situation on the streets because only few jeepneys were plying the nine kilometer Porac-Angeles stretch. Maybe only twenty families owned private cars. Illegal drugs as a problem was unheard of. The countryside was peaceful and quiet except for some skirmishes between government troopers and dissident groups. The seat of power was at the provincial capitol in San Fernando. There was only one hospital, and this was the Pampanga Provincial Hospital, now Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital.
In our town there was only one public school and located at the back of the Catholic church. Students coming from the barrios had to walk some kilometers. I remember some of them like the Saenz siblings from Hacienda Dolores, the Coronel brothers from Pulong Santol and the Dimalantas from Mitla. ( I wonder what happened to all of them now, what have they become). Hitching a hike from jeepneys for them was a luxury. Compared today where almost all families, considered poor included have a vehicle to ride. It’s either a Sarao Jeep, a trike, an old car or the least a motorcycle.
Only Angeles City, Guagua and San Fernando had movie houses. Box office tickets were 25 centavos for orchestra and fifty centavos for balcony. There were only five movie theaters in Angeles City, namely Devry, Marte, Paraiso, Rio and Eden Theatres. Sandra and Robin Theatres of the Nepomucenos came later. The known Hollywood actors were John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Gregorio Peck, Kirk Douglas, Humphrey Bogart among others. Gorgeous women in those years Ingrid Bergman, Gina Lolobrigida, Cyd Charisse, Jennifer Jones were among the popular. Brigitte Bardot was a fantasy. Sharon Stone, Demi Moore and Jennifer Lawrence came later.
Our province mate Rogelio Dela Rosa was king of Philippine movies. His rival for the title was Leopoldo Salcedo of Cavite. All kids like me love action and watched movies of Jesus ‘Og’ Ramos, Jose Padilla Sr. in Sawa sa Lumang Simboryo, and Cesar Ramirez in Bernardo Carpio. Efren Reyes Sr. was a swashbuckler and always on the scenes for long sword fights with Johnny Montero.
We love fiestas. People aside from visiting kids and friends had the chance of watching Zarzuelas or two bit variety shows starring unknown performers. The more cultured loved the serenatas of two big bands competing on the bisperas of fiesta mostly held at the church patio. Santacruzans were big events. An occasion to watch bevy of beauties coming from other towns in their beautiful gowns and all made up. Now all of the above are just plain memories. Today, it's traffic gridlocks, illegal drugs, corruption in government, political dynasties etc. we pine for the old days.