Echoes Of A Blog

Oh my god. I just unearthed a piece I wrote three years ago. It’s an unfinished journal chronicling a weekend at a beach in Zambales with the backdrop of the infamous “EDSA 3” in 2001. Here it is.

“ECHOES OF A REBELLION”

FRIDAY, APRIL 27

The people at the EDSA Shrine are calling it “EDSA Tres.” I call it a travesty, but that’s a word 90% of the people there won’t understand. Okay, okay, so I shouldn’t make fun of them being poor and ignorant bayaran-na-jologs. Let’s not widen the ever-increasing gap between the rich and poor. Let’s just push Miriam Defensor-Santiago off the plane since she lied about jumping off without a parachute.

However, I want to push them all away from my mind right now. Tomorrow the whole McVie family is going to Iba, Zambales for four days of sun, sand, swimming and sunburn. Jologs be damned!

SATURDAY, APRIL 28

Woke up at 3:15 am. Oh my God, that’s the same time the dad always woke up in “The Amityville Horror.” (Okay, for those who haven’t read the book nor watched that horrid movie version starring Margot “Can you read my mind?” Kidder, I’m sorry you won’t get this bit of pop reference.) Will be driving the family car. The others will ride in a rented van.

Pulled out of Marikina at 4:30 am. Already the Balintawak traffic is slow moving. Why are there so many vehicles out on the road this early? Later on my brother will report that he saw several trucks and vans with pro-Erap rallyists going out of Metro Manila. For a little R-n-R before going back later that night, I suppose.

I wonder what makes North Diversion Road a “diversion”—all those construction obstructions? Anyway, it’s hell going through Bulacan, but after a while the traffic lightens. Pampanga is a breeze, although there are some traffic choke points. Then it’s Subic, where we stopped to have breakfast at Wimpy’s Burger, located near the bus depot. I wanted to pass by SUBAC, but decided otherwise. Then it’s two more hours before we reach our destination—La Playa del Norte Beach Resort!

Since we arrived lunchtime, we decided to wait ‘til 4pm before swimming. The text messages kept coming in—the jokes about the mangmang and tanga amassing on EDSA; the call for gays to join Ernie Maceda and Jude Estrada at “EDSA 3” by wearing pink; the uglier the face, the bigger the amount paid to the supporters. It occurs to me that all this text messaging isn’t helping us any. It widens the ever-increasing gap between the rich and poor. And it is a major killjoy to our family vacation. Well, not quite… I look at my 9-yr old nephew and 5-yr old niece as they frolic blissfully on the sand and splash with abandon. Ah the innocents.

SUNDAY, APRIL 29

Today is the birthday of Martin “Gonz” Gonzalvez (TA Batch ‘88.) I know another batchmate, Alice Mendoza, will be celebrating her birthday soon (she’s a Taurus like Gonz, but I forget the exact date.)

We’re a little peeved because the resort does not receive any newspapers, and while they have cable, the only TV set is in the hut of the resort owner. So I rely on the text messages from friends in Manila.

And that's where I stopped, unfinished.