acting, sidetracking, aching...

I am sad, sad with how humanity is rapidly turning into monsters.

My pop never forgets to caution me about how ruthless the city is. I guess growing up in the province edifies me that it’s okay to trust people. But
boy, it’s different in Manila.

Along Taft, I witnessed how a lola donning an elegant piece of jewelry (earrings) was robbed off by a kid. Yes, an adolescent. The boy quickly placed his both hands to lola’s earlobes and snatched the trinkets. Noong una, parang nag-load pa muna ang utak ni lola, natigilan…then ayun, she hollered like a mad man. The robber on one hand, nonchalantly walked away as if nothing happened. Too bad I didn’t see what happened next because the jeep I was riding already moved.

Eh anong pake ba nila kung gustong mag-suot ni ‘la ng mamahaling earrings? Why do we have to conform with the corrupted city?

Imagine how frightening it was to observe a robbery incident but, what is more alarming is if you are the target of these monsters.

It was five in the afternoon, I was riding a jeep on the way to Trinoma, when around seven men hailed the jeepney I was riding. Mukha silang matino, but yeap, looks can be deceiving. To distract our attention, kunwari may nainitan at kailang lumipat sa shady seat, may nahulugan ng barya at kung anong pang ka eklabuhan.

I noticed that most of them were starting to sit beside me, I thought, “ang luwag-luwag naman ng jeep, bakit sumisiksik sila sakin?” Then I saw a man gazed on my side leg where my phone was. Then ayun, bigla kong naalala ang paalala ni papa—naïveté has no place in today’s world. Heck, I quickly put my phone in the other side of my pocket. After some time, na-notice siguro nilang di nila ko madedekwatan, then may isang sumuka akala mo lasing, di naman. While he was doing his acting piece, and everybody bought his little drama, ayun nadukutan na nga yung isang kuya. He lost his phone.

Thank God, nobody was harmed…

Manong driver said that what happened was a modus operandi of notorious monsters. To divert our awareness, little drama is set up for an easy sidetracking. I guess these monsters enrolled in an acting workshop first before doing their assignments.

Ergo, don’t let your guards down, you’ll never know. Parang sa lovelife lang yan eh, (but this is another story all together)…