Labor

I am no stranger to hard work considering I am a civil servant, having worked for the government since 1995. It is always said though that working for a state university is quite different from working in other government office such as say a local government unit or a national agency. I am inclined to agree considering my experiences as a faculty member at the University of the Philippines and in interacting with other people working for various office of government. Perhaps it is this different environment, a nurturing yet inquisitive and challenging environment, that makes us a rare breed and a valuable commodity for administrations that allow us and our graduates to be elected or appointed to sensitive positions in government and the private sector. But that, of course, can be considered arrogant and aloof in many ways by others who do not understand how it is to be part of the faculty of the country's premiere university.

I am, however, not going to talk about that kind of labor in this post. I will talk about work that we typically call chores when we and the members of our family do it, and work or labor when it is done by our help. The way we call it is very typical of the way we call illnesses (asthmatic vs. hikain, warts vs. kulugo, Down's vs. mongoloid, etc.) that they sound so different and so pedestrian when used for those who appear to be of lower social class compared to the term used for those who can afford the "finer things in life."

I am no stranger to household work. This, even though we have had help at our home when I was growing up and even today as my parents are already senior citizens. I attribute this to our helping out at the house despite having help. My parents are firm believers of hard work and have taught us how to do the basic chores of cleaning the house, washing the dishes, tending to the plants, doing the laundry, and ironing clothes. I can even do a little cooking, thanks to a mother who was taught me at least to cook my favorite dishes. My way, however, has not replicated hers and I still long for the distinctive taste of her cooking.

I was able to practice doing a lot of these chores when I stayed in Japan. I can proudly say that in my 3-year stint while working on my doctorate degree, I was also able to hone my skills in ironing and cleaning. Let it not be said that I went to the university with unpressed clothes nor will any visitor attest to not seeing my home away from home clean and orderly. I take pride in this as I do so today. Of course, these days I have better tools than what we had before though I did have my own vacuum cleaner when I was in Japan and I did use my personal steam iron while there. I was just thankful that we had washers and dryers at the dormitory and the "mansion" back in Yokohama. I was prepared to do handwashing but it took much time and effort and I was abroad mainly to study rather than do housework.

I salute those who do decent, honest work on this Labor Day. A lot of people don't even the simplest menial work because perhaps they have not done anything like it. We tend to dismiss housework as chores and some even detest it as if it is something that is not worthy of our time. Is it perhaps due to our having help and our parents not allowing us to lift a finger to even put order in our rooms or closets? Is it because we were spoiled and had snooty parents and relatives? It is sad if we were like that and think so about our help and about other workers and laborers in different lines of work. We might be professionals or white collar workers, or perhaps homemakers with staffs to work at our pleasure. But we should learn to appreciate and to value hard work that is put in by others, sparing us of doing so in the process and freeing us to do what we like to do.

Pagpapanggap

A story is told about a strongman who consciously built a legend for himself from the time he probably decided to enter politics. This included impressive feats like defending himself for a crime he committed, scoring high in the bar exams and others that could be at least validated for truths. He is, however, remembered more for his infamy, part of which is inventing stories about himself and his alleged accomplishments in order to impress upon a people his supposed superiority. He was, after all, supposed to be very intelligent yet this was wasted on the crimes he eventually committed in order to perpetuate himself in power.

Among the many tales the strongman invented, one was about his exploits during the Second World War. In that war, he was supposed to have been the leader of a guerrilla unit, one he formed after escaping from the Death March. In truth, he was a soldier who managed to escape and evade the Japanese forces. He was probably part of the guerrilla movement but he was no hero and probably didn't deserve the Medal of Valor that he claimed. The name if the unit he invented would become a fixation including for a proposal for renaming the country that he played around with for some time. And together with his spouse, he continued to pretend he was in another world or another level, or so perhaps was the truth in his mind. He invented other accomplishments that he mixed with actual ones that, in fairness to the man, we are still benefiting from now. This was to make it appear as if the fictitious accomplishments were real and he did so consciously in order to make himself larger than life.

There are many including perhaps ourselves who like to pretend, whether consciously, unconsciously, out of habit or out of necessity. It is usually a mix and there is always a purpose for doing so. A friend who was himself in the business of pretending to be someone, appropriated the Filipino word for pretending - pagpapanggap. There are so many of us who do so partly because we do not have enough skills, intelligence or raw talent to succeed without the help of unconventional talents. Perhaps, pagpapanggap is even the talent that some of us have and we use it to further ourselves, believing it is only fair as long as no one notices or exposes the truth.

I have known such people including some whom I considered friends. It is sad to know the truth and disappointing that we cannot correct certain things without committing so much damage that these people will be ruined if we did the right thing. One such person even faked his way towards attaining an advanced degree with the help, of course, of several accomplices. The quality of his work even today and his approach to what he claims to be research betrays his pagpapanggap. Unfortunately, his pretentiousness seems to be infectious, as I suspect he has spread this on to others whom I assumed were not of the same mindset before.

There are others whom I have knowledge of who prey upon unsuspecting people, even establishing themselves in networks where they hope to propagate their pagpapanggap. On group stands out in the environment sector where they continue to spread misconceptions and misinformation about air quality and other concepts. These are the more dangerous ones who claim to be experts and who engage those less knowledgeable, using them as conduits to their twisted reasoning and wisdom(?). A good friend was duped by these same people and we continue to disown or deny any connection with them even as they continue to drop the name of the Center for their personal benefit. Perhaps, one day, they will be exposed for what they truly are and that other may learn from their pagpapanggap.

All roads lead to Antipolo, Part 2

Antipolo has been a popular pilgrimage site since the Spanish Period ever since the reports of miracles performed through the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage. These include her image being reportedly found among the Antipolo tree that is the basis for the name of the town that now is a highly urbanized city and capital to the Province of Rizal. Rizal, of course, is the name of the province that once was generally called Morong. One town of the province still bears that name and it, too, has a beautiful, picturesque church. The Shrine is often visited by those seeking safe travel, perhaps these days it has even become more popular due to the tremendous numbers of overseas foreign workers (OFWs) employed abroad. Antipolo is also allegedly the richest among the most popular shrines or churches in the Philippines, supposedly ahead of Quiapo (Black Nazarene), Cebu (Sto. Nino), Baclaran (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), Naga (Penafrancia) and Manaoag (Our Lady of Manaoag), though not necessarily in that order. I think I read about this in one of Ambeth Ocampos' columns from the Inquirer. 

 

The popularity of the Shrine is so much so that a road was built to directly connect it with Manila, particularly to Intramuros where the seat of government was at the time. This road is most probably along the corridor that is now Ortigas Avenue. Of course, in the Spanish Period, this would be a more general route that would have likely included many rough trails considering that the Ortigas we know now was only developed in the 1970's. I witnessed this when we moved from Manadaluyong to Cainta in 1976, often seeing huge machines work their way along what is now Valle Verde to carve out a wider right of way for Ortigas Avenue. 

 

During the American Period, the trams operated by the Manila Electric Rail and Light Company (MERaLCo) included a line that went up to Antipolo. Those trams were the state of the art and representative of high technology in public transportation in those years after the turn of the century and a line to Antipolo reinforced the shrine's importance to many people and the government's recognition of this. The tram network, which was probably the most developed in Southeast Asia if not in Asia at the time, was destroyed during World War 2 and was never rebuilt for some reason. It is something that Metro Manila now continues to regret if only to postulate what might have beens and what could have beens if the network was revived after the war. Of course, this bit of history is related to the eventual rise of the jeepneys but that is another story for another post. Nevertheless, there still exists in Antipolo some remnants of the tram's glory days and it is remembered as a road which is still called "daang bakal," as the railways were fondly called then and now. 

 

There are now many ways from Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces to Antipolo, although several of these eventually merge into three main roads en route to the Shrine. One is via the old route along Ortigas Avenue, a second is the route via Sumulong Highway, and the third is through a "back door" via the Antipolo-Teresa Road. Routes from the general areas of Manila, Makati, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Taguig and the southern cities of Metro Manila and towns from Laguna, Batangas and Cavite will most likely merge to Ortigas Avenue. Meanwhile, people coming from Quezon City, Caloocan, Marikina, Bulacan, Pampanga and the northern Rizal towns of San Mateo and Rodriguez (Montalban) will likely converge along Sumulong Highway. Meanwhile, those coming from the east including the Rizal towns like Tanay, Teresa, Morong, and Jala-jala, the Laguna towns like Paete, Pakil, Pangil, the Quezon towns of Luisiana, Lucban, Infanta and General Nakar, and others will most likely take the Antipolo-Teresa Road that climbs from the east of Antipolo. People from Marikina, Cainta and Pasig generally may take either the Ortigas or the Marcos Highway/Sumulong Highway route. 

 

Public transport to Antipolo these days include mostly jeepneys as the city is the end point of many routes - a testament to its importance even as a reference point for public transportation. One can easily spot the Antipolo-Cubao jeepneys in the Araneta Center in the Cubao business district in Quezon City. There are two lines, one via Cainta Junction (where jeepneys eventually turn to Ortigas Avenue) and another via Marcos Highway, turning at the Masinag Junction towards Sumulong Highway). Another terminal is at the EDSA Central near the Ortigas Center in Mandaluyong where Antipolo-Crossing jeepneys are queued. And still there is another, albeit somewhat informal terminal near Jose Rizal University (JRU, which was formerly a college and hence the old JRC endpoint), which passes through Shaw Boulevard, Meralco Avenue and eventually turns towards Ortigas Avenue. Other jeepneys from the Rizal towns all have routes ending in Antipolo simbahan, referring to the shrine. 

 

There are now also multicabs, shuttles offering express trips between Antipolo and the same end points of Cubao or Crossing. Others go all the way to Makati in the Ayala financial district. These evolved out of the Tamaraw FX taxis that started charging fixed fares during the 1990's and competed directly with the jeepneys. These are popular, however, with office employees and students during weekdays and the nature of their ownerships and operations do not make them serious competitors to the jeepneys during the merry month of May and the Lenten Holy Week. 

 

There was an Antpolo Bus Line before. These were the red buses that plied routes between Antipolo and Divisoria in Manila. These died out sometime between the late 80's and the early 90's probably due to decreasing profitability and likely because of its competition with the jeepneys. That bus company, along with the green-colored G-Liners, the red EMBCs (Eastern Metropolitan Bus Co.) and CERTs, and the blue Metro Manila Transit Corp. buses used to form a formidable mass transport system for Rizal and the eastern towns of Metro Manila. There were even mini-buses (one I recall were the Antipolo "baby" buses and those that plied routes betwen Binangonan and Recto). Most of these, except the G-Liners eventually succumbed to the jeepneys. 

 

In the future, perhaps the jeepneys should give way to buses as the latter will provide a higher level and quality of service along Ortigas Avenue and Marcos and Sumulong Highways. Already in the drawing boards is a plan to ultimately extend LRT Line 2, which currently terminates at Santolan, Pasig, to Masinag Junction and then have a branch climb along Sumulong Highway and terminate near the shrine. This will bring back the trains to Antipolo and would surely make the church and the city very accessible to people. I look forward to these developments both in my capacity as a transportation researcher-engineer and a Catholic who also visits the Shrine to pray for safe travel for loved ones and myself.