‘These are troubled times, either because public service is not just thankless but is also fraught with personal risks…’
GROWING up, “going home to the province” meant trooping to Laguna, where my father traced his roots. His mother, Socorro Adao Villarin, came from Paete (what I consider the wood-carving and lanzones capital of the Philippines), while his father, Godofredo Baylon, came from Alaminos.
While I was born in Manila and grew up in the city, it was to Paete that I’d go for the Lenten celebration with the parade of life-sized santos, while it was to Alaminos that we would visit for summer and the Christmas holidays
Alaminos is a small town that travelers to and from the Bicol Region navigate through between San Pablo City and Sto Tomas (Batangas). The barrio of Trenchera (so named because of the deep trenches scattered across the area) used to be a part of San Pablo, which in turn was part of Lipa. But San Pablo established itself as an independent municipality, and then seven families led by Cirilo Baylon (a wealthy, Spanish-speaking landowner, says Wikipedia) broke away in 1873 to establish Alaminos on the foundation of their properties in Trenchera.
(Note: Alaminos, Pangasinan was founded a year earlier, in 1872. Both were named after Captain General Juan de Alaminos, who approved their creation.)
Alaminos has always been a sleepy, peaceful town to me, with the Poblacion portion leading to the municipal hall consisting of residential houses built on lots of 100-200 meters – and all owned by relatives. There was no “action” in Alaminos; residents would travel to nearby San Pablo, or more distant Lipa, if they wanted a taste of the “city life.” Our relations (the extended Baylon-Faylona clan) lived next to each other, and most derived their income from coconut and copra, from which they were able to send their children abroad to study.
But it seems my impression of the old town is no longer accurate. At least if I go by a comment from a relative that our Mayor travels in bullet proof vehicles!
Bullet proof??? It’s shocking when you compare our town mayor to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who rides a bike to and from work.
Or to billionaires I know in Manila who drive themselves sans bodyguards. My old boss, Don Enrique Zobel, just had one driver – and scoffed at those who rode bulletproof cars.
Zobel na ‘yun, ha!
When the mayor of a small town like Alaminos needs to drive around in bulletproof vehicles, then we should start to worry. Has peace and order deteriorated in Alaminos to such an extent that it is a dangerous place to be a public servant? Does public service in Alaminos now come with such risks? Who has he angered or made an enemy that his life is at risk? Has he reported the threats to the proper authorities?
Or is this some sort of power trip – because one indeed gets an inflated sense of importance if you need to be conveyed by bullet proof vehicles, yes?
Whether it’s the former or the latter, it boils down to the same thing, albeit with different reasons. These are troubled times, either because public service is not just thankless but is also fraught with personal risks, or because our public servants have grown huge egos they need wang-wangs and bullet proof cars to show all of us just how important they are.
Troubled times indeed.
