I USED to fear even just the thought of going to Tondo. It was hell on earth based on stories and news reports about the place —poverty, crime, and grime all in one.
Lately though, I’ve been hearing something totally different about Tondo. Where gangs used to roam and crime was rampant, there’s greater civility.
One hallmark of the change could very well be the existence of a big mall where a race track used to be. The mall brings with it a more prim and proper sense of decorum. You don’t go around the mall playing with your switchblades nor throwing around empty beer bottles at its dining spots.
Visually, things are changing, too. While some residents still live cheek by jowl in some areas, in others the streets are wider and paved and Meralco-supplied electricity (jumpers included!) have lightened up once darkened alleys.
‘I smile when I think that it was in Tondo that Andres Bonifacio was born and it was in Tondo that his consciousness was molded.’
Every year during the feast of the Sto. Nino, Tondo residents launch their own celebration, with shirtless menfolk marching around the area beating drums and others dancing to the beat. The pandemic put a stop to that, but residents are hopeful that next year will see its return.
Yearning for a return to “normalcy” is evident among the people of Tondo whom I’ve met.
Once upon a time, it was a yearning for peace and quiet and the end to rampant gang wars and crime.
Up to now there are still incidents of petty crime here and there — but what area in our country is free of such crime anyway?
Basketball and billiards are, not surprisingly, a favorite pastime — the males play it while the females watch. And we know how getting people involved in sports not only can make them healthier; it serves to sap their energy for other less productive things. And despite the existence of 21st century smartphones which anyone can use to feast on NBA games live or on replay, nothing beats a real court battle of neighbor against neighbor with only pride at stake.
I smile when I think that it was in Tondo that Andres Bonifacio was born and it was in Tondo that his consciousness was molded. What kind of GenZ Bonifacio is being molded there right now?
Every day, young people wake up to a new tomorrow. Every day, they are faced with critical choices — do I choose to mold my life for the better and fight for what I deserve, as Bonifacio did? Or do I just surrender to forces that I can easily claim are beyond my control?
Bonifacio chose the former at a time when fighting for a better life meant putting that very life at risk. When I think of Tondo in the 21st century I pray that its youth choose to follow a similar path, knowing however that there are ways to carve out a better life that one can enjoy into one’s old age.
(Birthday greetings to Cly Wallace, Pedro Sacro Jr., Anne von Behr, Emily Avelino, Dale Singson, Atty. Noel Ostrea and NAC’s Angela Villamor).
