DECONYONATION

Re: Deconyonation 2010

I think we can do the cook off idea. Since we’re busy people now (how time flies), we don’t have to travel with this one. Limited budget, buy food from the wet market, cook for 3 judges.

Benny

Deconyonation 2010

Hello.

It’s been more than a year now since we started this so-called project of ours and I think it is time to do one before the year ends. After conquering the concrete jungles of Manila and doing a back-to-nature in Anawangin, Zambales, we just have to do another one. 

Any ideas?

Mike

Deconyonation Begins - Part 3: Keeping the Faith

Part of the main objective of the Deconyonation experience was to take as many modes of public transportation as possible.  True to form, after taking my first bus and jeepney rides in Quezon City and UP Diliman, Mike and I chose to take the FX to the main event – Quiapo Church.

The Tamaraw FX could seat 10 people. Imagine that. What an efficient way of packing warm and sweaty bodies in a single vehicle. It was lunch time and you did not have to look at the clock to know it. It was sweltering inside and we were seated at the very back, where you’d have to sit sideways and try to not let your legs get in the way too much, or in between another person’s.

The Jeepney was cool because it was open air, so even if it was hot outside, there was still ventilation and some wind. In the FX, the air conditioning was too weak, and the space was too small. If you asked me to choose, I’d take the Jeep over the FX any day – unless I was seated in front beside the driver.

On the way to Quiapo, I had a few moments to ponder what it was with Quiapo Church, or why it symbolizes the masses so much. When we first unveiled our Deconyonation project, Quiapo was always at the top of people’s minds when they gave out suggestions.  Later on it would dawn on me why.

We got to Quiapo Church after 30-40 minutes going along Quezon Avenue and Espana. We entered through the side entrance, and my first reaction to Mike was, “This is it?”

The inside wasn’t really anything special. It wasn’t like a gothic cathedral with elaborate statues and stuff. But I did remember this was where the Black Nazarene was kept. True enough, after looking around inside, I saw the little figurine by the altar up front. I was reminded of how deeply superstitious Filipinos are, especially during the Feast of the Black Nazarene where people die every year just to get to touch the figurine for its supposed miraculous healing powers.

After a few minutes, we went out through the main entrance and walked right into Plaza Miranda. To be honest, I had no idea about the place until after Cory Aquino’s death, when the bombing incident was mentioned and retold. Out in the Plaza, we found the soothsayers and fortunetellers. It was ironic but not so surprising, to see them outside a Church, where only the Word of God was supposed to offer divine guidance. It was 100 bucks for the tarot card and palm reading package, a bit over our budget, but what the heck we were in Quiapo.

While Brother Jhun was reading my fate and destiny, it all just started to make sense. Quiapo was not some beautiful and scenic landmark, but a historical and symbolic one.  Quiapo represented the heart and mind of most Filipinos. The fanatic beliefs and the fantastic superstitions, the Black Nazarene and the tarot cards, they all captured the hopes and dreams of the common Filipino for a better tomorrow.

After the fortunetelling, we started feeling hungry (again). But first, we had to go around the tiangge and shops along Carriedo and Hidalgo since Mike wanted to look around for some cameras and photography equipment. Along the way, we passed by the very first branch of SM, which was now a clearance mall. We didn’t take a lot of pictures while in Quiapo since we heard the area was notorious for pickpockets.

Contrary to popular belief, I did not feel as if I was in any danger when I was there. In fact it felt pretty normal, shopping around the side streets, people minding their own business. Mike and I talked about the profile of a snatcher’s victim, and all you had to do to avoid being one was to not look like a dumbass. It’s simple, but true.

Eventually, we had to move on to our next destination, and this was another place which meant a lot to me. It was time to go back to our roots, the oldest China Town in Asia, the one and only Ongpin. But first, we had to take a stroll along Recto. We had two choices to get there, by jeep or by pedicab. Take a guess which one we chose.

To be continued…

Deconyonation Begins - Part 2: Homecoming

When I studied in UP, I never took the IKOT. Ever.

If you want a perfect example of conyo lifestyle, then I’m the guy you want to talk to. Let’s just put it this way, I once fixed an entire semester’s schedule of purely morning classes, so that I’d go straight to play golf in the afternoon. I kid you not.

I’m neither proud nor ashamed of what I did; it was my choice and my decision. It does not take away anything from my UP education, because that’s the best part of studying in the best school in the country – You can choose the path you want to take.

I quote Maya Baltazar Herrera:

Each student in this university goes through his own unique voyage of discovery. On his voyage, as he decides what he cares about, what he will fight for and what he will sacrifice, he crafts his own personal values. That is what education is truly about.

Looking back on my college days, I feel that I’ve grown up a lot. I would never have considered the thought of doing all this Deconyonation bullshit. I’ve had my biased opinions regarding my stay in UP from my previous blog, and when I read it again, it’s as if I’m not the same person who wrote it.

And so this is why our visit to UP during our Deconyonation tour meant a lot to me. I just had to take my first Jeepney ride in my beloved alma mater.

Our first stop is of course me and Mike’s favorite sari-sari store in the whole wide world. We had too many great memories drinking C2 in front of Aling Nene’s store. She’s like our adopted mother and substitute kabarkada when nobody was around during our breaks.

Next on the agenda was to have breakfast in the legendary Rodic’s. Best tapsilog ever, ‘nuff said. I do not remember the number of meals I had there, especially when I didn’t have long breaks. It used to be just 50 pesos per dish, but times have changed and it’s now 65. But I won’t be alone in saying I’d pay good money to eat there.

After breakfast, we again took the IKOT to the famous Oblation to take our first ever photos with the naked statue.

Before we moved on to our next destination, we took a stroll through the magnificent tree-lined oval, the best features of the best campus in the country. It was a good walk through memory lane, a symbolic gesture of passing through the last vestiges of our academic lives.

It was a good way to energize ourselves both physically and spiritually for the day ahead. It was a soulful pitstop to say the least. But the Deconyonation freedom tour had to go on, and next stop was the very much awaited main event – Quiapo Church.

To be continued…

Deconyonation Begins - Part 1: Welcome to the Jungle

“This isn’t immersion anymore, this is submersion.” — Mike Tee

Deconyonation began for Mike and I at around 7:30am in Ash Creek Greenhills, right outside my house. It seemed like a gloomy day at the time, so we were prepared for the worst with raincoats and umbrellas in our bags. We met up at Starbucks, the storefront of conyo lifestyle. Mike was having his ‘last cup of luxury’, sipping his toasty caramel machiato before we charged into the urban jungle.

We already had an itinerary from the suggestions various friends submitted a few months ago, when we hatched this project. But we decided at the last minute to tweak it a little bit to fit the occasion.

Because it was Quezon City day, we wanted to pay tribute to our former president by visiting the site that was built to honor him, Quezon Circle. Those of you who are a bit geographically challenged, it’s a stone’s throw away from my dear alma mater, the University of the Philippines. We found it fitting to take my old route going to class when I was still an undergraduate, so we could really compare the travel times. I used to clock 15 to 20 minutes driving to school everyday.

From Ash Creek, we hopped on a G-Liner that went to Robinson’s Galleria. From there, we took another bus that went straight to Quezon City Hall. As for our travel expenses, I’ll provide the list later on. So for our first pit stop of the day, it took us roughly 45 minutes to get to Quezon Circle.

As soon as we arrived in the perimeter of the Circle, something incredibly bizzare happened. There were street vendors all around us, and they were fleeing the scene, carrying with them their merchandise as if Mike and I were monsters with nasty body odor. I mean, yeah we were taking public transportation, but the buses we took were fully air-conditioned.

We looked around confused until we finally understood the source of their terror — blue MMDA vultures swooping in out of nowhere like birds of prey, confiscating any sidewalk items that were being sold. They came in a large garbage truck filled with MMDA goons, and the other fiends who scoured the sidewalks handed the looted bounty to those on the truck.

It was very surreal, to see something like that happen right before our very eyes. It was like watching a movie unfold, where the henchmen came in to oppress the helpless civlians. It was as down to earth as it gets, the real world sticking it to our faces and giving us a taste of what it was like outside of our confined and detached realities.

It’s easy to say that it really is illegal to sell stuff on the sidewalks of Quezon Circle, but when you see the vendors’ faces filled with all sorts of emotions, you have to stop and wonder, these people are just trying to get by with the cards they have been dealt.

We left the scene quite moved, but it was a sight to behold when after just 2 minutes of the MMDA’s departure, the vendors were already back setting up their stuff. And people say Filipinos are lazy?

We were supposed to cross the Quezon rotonda, and if you’ve seen how fast the cars go in there, you’d agree that it was suicidal. We were looking for the guy who took groups of people across to the park, but could not find him. Our trip would end quite abruptly if we braved the torrent of automobiles going by. We were about to give up hope when lo and behold, we see that there was an underpass. When we were still studying in UP, it didn’t exist.

When we arrived inside the Quezon Circle, Mayor Sonny Belmonte was giving a speech regarding the history of Quezon City. I looked around to see if Manuel Quezon III was around, but if he was there I wasn’t able to spot him. We did see Herbert “Bistek” Bautista though.

We didn’t spend that much time inside, but we did take some nice photos and recorded a few video clips. We were only using our cellphones and occasionally Mike’s Holga for documentation, as we were afraid of getting mugged if we brought out our digicams, especially in the places we intended to go later on.

We were barely 1 hour into our journey, but it was already quite eventful. If it was any indication of how the day would transpire, what further surprises could be in store for us?

Next Stop: University of the Philippines

To be continued…

Deconyonation

My name is Benny Lim. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Everything that I ever needed to survive in this world was provided for. All this is about to change with my new project, Deconyonation: Manila.

Together with my good friend Mike Tee, we will go beyond the safe confines of our comfort zones. We will strip away all the layers of worldly constructs and embark on a unique adventure — an intrepid pursuit of self-discovery.

Our first endeavor will be to travel around the urban jungle of Metro Manila strictly via public transport with a limited budget. Note that this is something totally alien to someone like me who never takes public transportation. The goal is to take every single mode of public transport available to reach our destinations. This might sound simple, but where we are going is up to YOU.

We will take the destinations you suggest to us and we will come up with an itinerary of the locations you want us to visit within Metro Manila. Due to time constraints, we will have to choose the five (5) most feasible locations we can visit in one day. We will take photographs and videos of ourselves during the process for actual proof that we indeed went to the destinations.

Be creative with your suggestions, since you can be assured that we are up to the challenge. We want to test our commuting skills (or lack thereof) to the limit. Some destinations we have in mind are Divisoria, Baclaran, Binondo, Intramuros and Luneta.

This is merely a small step in our true goals for this project. Later on, we will try to put ourselves out on the line more and raise the stakes. We will take trips outside the city and we will get to know our country and our culture a little better.

I believe that in order for the privileged to make a difference in society, we need to be in touch with reality. It is time to step down from our ivory towers and see how it really is out in the real world. I’ve had a glimpse of it in college, but now it’s time to experience it first-hand. This is what the ground-breaking movement of Deconyonation: Manila is all about, and I hope that everybody will join us.

So start posting your suggestions, Deconyonation starts NOW.