By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Over dinner last night, I overheard my son who was to submit today his first internship article. It is a news item he has yet to finalize in Tagalog and English (Taglish) about a new service line the Victory Liner bus company is about to offer in a matter of days to the public. It will be a point to point (non-stop) air-conditioned passenger bus service from Baguio City to Calamba, Laguna.
In case you were born yesterday, Calamba is the place where our national hero, Jose Rizal hails from. It is right smack in the middle of the Southern Tagalog areas. When you are there, Batangas is just a stone’s throw away. So are the cities of San Pablo, Santa Cruz, both in Laguna and Lucena of Quezon. Also tourist areas like Pagsanjan.
What got me interested though was the fact I had been traveling to the Southern Tagalog areas innumerable times in the past when I was a student in UP Los Banos which is just a jeepney ride away. Getting there back then was a pain in the ass. You went first to Manila which could be hell with all the hustle the heat provided. Then you transferred to a bus going to Calamba and other nearby areas like Los Banos, Laguna and Batangas towns.
So with such new bus service, traveling to those places would now be easy and convenient.
The more important thing, however, that got aroused in my mind are the innumerable business opportunities that would be created. Thus I immediately thought about products from Baguio you can sell down there and vice versa. There are so many aside from other straw berry jams and other items the Good Shepherd Convent people are producing and are now famous for like broom, peanut brittle, and other pasalubong items.
I got reminded of our fund raising activities back in college. For those, we often gravitated towards the products of Liliw, Laguna which revolved around two words, sandals and lambanog. To acquaint myself with changes regarding such products I googled and was surprised the town is now called the tsinelas capital of the country. And still another famous product is still lambanog. During our college days when I was still drinking, I never believed a person can get drunk to the point of becoming really blacked out where you would not remember anything from the night before. Well, lambanog, the “very high proof” in alcohol content that went down your throat nice and easy , changed all that for me. Being blacked out by alcoholic drinks can make you commit very embarrassing acts you will never forget.
More about business opportunities. I thought about convincing my wife to go for a joy ride to Laguna and try to buy products there for resell in Baguio. On second thought, business entails more than having a joy ride. Making money entails more serious efforts. So at my age and the health challenges am facing, I would rather leave such to members of the younger generation who are still brimming with a lot of energy.
As to joy rides, one can readily undertake one to anywhere any other time of the year.
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