La La Land

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

 LA La Land teaches the importance of resilience and determination. And so do other inspiring movies. But what stuck in my mind is the struggle to succeed. La La Land is a nickname for Los Angeles, California, specifically to refer to Hollywood, the pursuit of dreams, wealth and romance.

In some sectors of Philippine society, others do not even think of pursuing big dreams, the dreams do not go that far. In fact, most dreams get stalled in the struggle for survival. Some anchor their hopes on Lalamove

Lalamove is an “Asia-based technology company that provides on-demand, same-day and advance order delivery services by connecting users with delivery drivers on its mobile and web apps. The company operates in cities across Asia and Latin America connecting over 7 million users with more than 700,000 delivery drivers.” While there is no specific data for the number of drivers Lalamove employs, the fact that it operates in Metro Manila and Cebu makes the company one of the rising delivery services, along with Grab and Mr. Speedy.

The motorcycle drivers of these three rising delivery companies congregate the whole day, every day, on the western side of the street where I reside. They seem to form clusters in strategic parts of the three adjacent villages of UP, Teachers Village and Sikatuna, where delivery services seem to be more frequent. They move in or out of their usual locations depending on how well the neighborhood tolerates their presence. Some drivers are very quietly waiting for their prompts to deliver, but most are engaged in animated conversations about their wives, their girlfriends, their debts, even their grievances with the companies they work for. I could hear them laugh and curse on the farthest end of the backyard.

“Putang ina pare, ang problema kay Lalamove, palaging pinapanigan ang customer!” (Motherfucker, the problem with Lalamove is that it always sides with the customer!)

“Hayaan mo na, pare, kung walang customer, wala tayong hanapbuhay.” (Let it pass, my friend, if there are no customers, we cannot earn a living.)

In between the conversations, someone calls my attention:

“Ma’am ang ganda ng garden ninyo!” (Ma’am, you have a beautiful garden!

I am not sure if he really loves plants or he is just saying that to make conversation so that I will not complain about their presence in an area where they are not supposed to be. Six to ten of them have their motorcycles parked in the sidewalk, and a pedestrian will have to walk with the vehicles on the streets.

They are loud but generally keep to themselves, except for one who had the temerity to park his motorcycle right in front where the alley to my door begins.

“Pakialis po ang motor ninyo, kailangan kong gumalaw.” (Please move out, I need the space to move around.)

At first, he pretended not to hear. Then the other drivers told him to move his motorcycle. He did so without looking at me. Even if he looked, I would not have recognized him or any of them since they are all wearing masks. I would not even know if some of them are just pretending to be drivers. But some of them are kind and have very good manners, they pushed a malfunctioning car together until it showed signs of running, but it got stalled for good, right in the doorway of my neighbor who was about to enter his parking lot.

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