Punchline
The good old days
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
“DO you remember the old days how we celebrated our Christmas and fiesta in Dagupan?”
It was one question (in Pangasinan) I overheard when two “seniors” seated behind me were talking animatedly while on board a bus headed for Cubao last Saturday.
I smiled.
That was the same question I asked my boyhood friends (Alex Floro, Alex Villaflor and Albert Asprer) over our bi-monthly lunch at Masuki at the Megamall. (Our regular fare is special mami-siopao of Ma Mon Luk vintage, the fastfood we grew up with in the 60s).
We reminisced how most homes in the city prepared sumptuous buffets on dinner tables for anyone who cared to visit and partake of a family’s hospitality. It was an open city… there were “open houses” everywhere! Nobody was seen as uninvited… everyone was welcomed and, of course, “forced” to eat. No alibi for not taking any serving on the table was acceptable. “Galidia, mangan kayo,” was the usual greeting at the doorstep. And yes, bottles of brandy, scotch and beer were freely passed around. (Nobody served wine).
Since the fiesta is being celebrated during the cold Christmas season, it was the time to bring out and wear the best and thickest jacket one had in the closet for the perceived cold night (imagining it to be caused by snow). Christmas carols were blaring in homes’ phonographs on ‘45’ and long-playing records by Johnny Mathis, Henry Mancini, Andy Williams, Lettermen, Mantovani, Nat King Cole, Ray Coniff Singers…
People never got tired visiting bookstores stacked with Christmas cards. Family members dutifully picked up colorful cards with apt messages to be sent to remembered relatives and friends. The busiest government service office then was the post office, and the most awaited and sought person was the postman.
Ninongs and ninangs remembered all their godchildren by name and preparing gifts for them was a joy.
There was the coronation night of Miss Dagupan that everyone looked forward to on the 26th. It was the place to be seen in your best. Then on the 28th, there was the Varsitarians’ Night for the college students who studied in Manila colleges and universities. (Why the practice discriminating against local college guys continued for another decade was beyond me). Everyone had fun dancing to the music of popular bands from Manila, in their formal party dresses (for women) and coat and tie (for the men), unmindful of the rickety school desks borrowed from the West Central Elementary School and Dagupan City High School that they had to sit on throughout. Partying at the plaza would go on till 1 a.m.
Those days are gone. Today, there are no more “open houses.” People come in jeans for partying at the plaza. Christmas carols belong to malls and stores. Most ninongs and ninangs now suffer from Alzheimer’s. Christmas greetings are sent via email. The post office has become a lonely place.
Yes, then were the good old days. Ask any surviving baby-boomer today, and he or she will tell you more!
* * * * *
A BOON AND A BANE. But there are irrefutable blessings today that serve everyone well, including or particularly the baby-boomers of the 50s! The internet, the smartphone and Facebook!
Our grandparents then were mostly bored looking at photo albums and little else. And if they got together, the main and most important topic was their illness and diet.
Today, most baby-boomers in their 60s-70s who have children and grandchildren who are internet-savvy, perhaps spend more time connecting with classmates and old friends mainly via Facebook than their children and grandchildren. They are having a blast more than at any other time… attaching pictures of themselves and their kin, surfing messages, etc.
The downside is parents and grandparents are unable to communicate with their children and grandchildren often because all are busy with their own gadgets! Watch them in restaurants and in other public places.
But whatever, this technology boom is both a boon and a bane to both the young and the old.
* * * * *
ON THE OFFENSIVE. The camp of Mr. Antonio Cabangon Chua has been busy spreading the word that that the Citystate Savings Bank has already filed a case against Dagupan City Engr. Virginia Rosario for refusing to issue the building permit. (At presstime, Engr. Rosario denies having received any notice about it). It is not known if the case was filed with a regional trial court or the Ombudsman.
But I have no doubt a case was, indeed, filed because Mr. Cabangon Chua’s group has already long decided to launch an offensive against those who stand in the company’s way who they think prevent him to earn the profits he wants to make. It already filed a libel case against all The PUNCH staffers who are listed in the editorial box and Decorp’s Jojo Liwag over a legitimate news quoting Mayor Belen about the use of the electric meter by Citystate.
The new complaint vs. Engr Rosario confirms what I earlier gathered from mutual friends in Metro Manila, that Mr. Cabangon Chua had ordered his phalanx of lawyers to go on the offensive against the city government and The PUNCH. So, I guess it’s not farfetched to believe that Mayor Belen’s neck will be the next on the block for refusing to issue the bank its business permit.
What makes Mr. Cabangon Chua so defiant to continue operating his bank without building and business permits, and so bold to file suits against all of his perceived business enemies in Pangasinan? Methinks it’s what he believes he has learned about Mayor Belen over the past months – that she is not one to confront detractors and violators in court, neither is she keen on creating legal complications that could arise from enforcing the city’s ordinances. In other words, he thinks she can be made to back down on MC Adore and his bank with legal offensives.
So let’s see if the rumored plot against Dagupan City will be played out soon.
Perhaps this is what Mr. Cabangon Chua meant by “diplomatic leadership in local government governance” which he expounded to Guv Spines during a recent courtesy call – to sue and neutralize all who gets in the way!
What can I say but Merry Christmas?
* * * * *
MERRY CHRISTMAS! On behalf of The PUNCH’s men and women (Ding Micua, Marifi Jara, Jun Velasco, Jess Garcia, Johanne Macob, Julie Ann Arrogante, Joy dela Cruz, Vir Biagtan, Eva Visperas, Willie Lomibao, columnists Gonz Duque, Al Mendoza, Bebot Villar and Sonny Villafania) who tirelessly put together a weekly issue for our loyal readers here and overseas, I wish to greet all in Jesus Christ’s name, a holy and merry Christmas!
May peace reign in your homes and with strong unyielding faith in your hearts as Christ would want it for His Father’s children.
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