By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Before I proceed I would like to clarify first what I said last week to the effect that if you have a good education you will have a good future anywhere in the world. And that if your educational background is shitty, then you will have a shitty future anywhere in the world. All of these are dependent on the definition of education. As my spiritual guru once said, “Educated is he who has learned much, remembered much, and able to apply these in practical life.” So education can be acquired from academic institutions or from the university of life or school of hard knocks. Applying what one learned in practical life, however, is the most important part of the definition.
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It was a rainy Monday morning as typhoon Carina was barreling from the Cagayan Valley to Batanes when I took a cab to the old offices of the DENR to have a survey map authenticated. As soon as I got down from the cab, I realized they already transferred to their new building at Pacdal, just a stone’s throw from Wright Park’s horse riding area. Damn, I could have driven there as they have enough parking spaces. Unlike in the central business district where finding a parking area is impossible, so I took a cab.. Cabs were readily available then as 50% of their number were allowed to go out and do business, unlike in the two weeks before that when only 20% of Baguio’s cabs were allowed, and few jeepneys were also allowed on the streets. Moving around then was hell even if you had a car as there were no parking spaces as aforesaid.
I then walked the 50 meter distance to Session Road to get another cab. When I was there already, right in front of the old Session Theater which was converted by one of the children of the owners to a coffee shop specializing in pizza and pasta, I realized I did not have small bills for cab money. The smallest bill I had was a P1,000.00—being the only money I had. Since it was early in the morning, the cabbies might not have change for the bill and they just might get angry with me. So I decided to have a cup of coffee so the bill would be changed. I needed a cup anyway as it was cold and drizzling.
When I started taking a sip of the coffee it was great—sure, wake up and smell the coffee. Then I saw a lawyer friend enter. He was just by himself so I invited him to my table and we later got animated by the caffeine as we related stories about the lockdown and its effects.
I related then that despite the economic hardship everybody was going through there were still a good number who had been coming to the office of this paper to have some legal notices published. The publications are usually those required by government offices before land titles are transferred to buyers or heirs of deceased persons. That means these people are not going through the economic wringer as such transfers require the payments of taxes (capital gains, inheritance, etc.) which are not cheap. In some instances, the amounts to be paid are in the millions of pesos.
In many instances, these people are ordinary people, those whose needs are small, who don’t have to go to a fancy place to have a cup of coffee. Many of them are from the “ili” who could save any money they made as they don’t have fancy needs.These are the people whom many who judge books by their clothes or cover often underestimate.
Then our talk strayed into why we were having coffee there. The answer of course was because “Dainty” closed shop about 15 years ago due to mismanagement. Since time immemorial, Dainty was the “dap-ay” of Baguio City. Dap-ay is the term of the iBesaos and iSagadas which the iBontocs call “ator”. A dap-ay was where the elders and those of age in a traditional Igorot village congregate to hear stories around a bonfire and where village affairs were discussed, and consequent action plans were arrived at.
Those were the days. Now the local governments in barangays and towns have taken over such functions.
The coffee shops around the city now fulfill some of the functions of the ‘dap-ay’ or the ‘ator’. The most important of which is the discussion of ideas in an informal way. Ideas are brought out and opinions are also volunteered. These discussions serve as filters where stupid suppositions are exposed and the meritorious ones are appreciated. As to plans of action or conclusions, it is up to the individuals who were there to draw their own.
As one friend told me a few years ago, the difference between Mountain Province tribes and others was that there was the “dap-ay” or “ator” where ideas flowed and discussed, where the sham and stupid ideas were exposed or discredited.
Did the institution make the iMontanozas or the Bontokis more confident when they went out to the outside world? That is the question.**
