Andy Bonifacio was about to turn in for the night. He was just gazing from the window of his 2-storey house and watching the goings on of the street below him. His meeting with Apol Mabini, Emilio Jacinto and the Luna brothers the past week still resonated in his mind.
Andy was thinking of how things came to such a pass. He was born after the 1986 EDSA Revolution. It was when he was 5 years old that he knew what Martial Law was about. Actually, it was not directly. It was during the heat of the 1992 election campaign when his parents were campaigning for Sen. Jovito Salonga that he learned that the old man was a victim of the Plaza Miranda bombing. Up to then, Plaza Miranda was where Jollibee is located. It was there where they went after Sunday Mass at the Quiapo church. His grandparents took him there each Sunday. He asked how such a thing could happen in such a place. It was on a Sunday afternoon that his father, a supervisor at a shipping firm showed him pictures of EDSA 1986. He was told that a year later after that bombing, Martial Law was declared. That was the reason why they were campaigning for Salonga, for he was one of those who stood up against Martial Law. No matter if he was already frail, blind in one eye, deaf in one ear and missing several digits in his hands. His mother told Andy that there are men worth emulating and so he must study hard and be like Salonga. Andy had this quizzical look on his face when told of studying when he was only on his first grade in school.
Andy grew up being studious and also street smart. His first cognizance of the differences in social classes was when he was transferred to a private school for his high school education. He was not in agreement with it since he will leave behind his childhood friends in Juan Sumulong (John Forward) Elementary School. But his grandfather insisted since a retired educator himself, he saw the potential of Andy who excelled in the social sciences and mathematics at the same time. Also, having a proficiency in Pilipino and English at the same time. Andy remembered the rows and rows of books of his grandfather whenever he would visit them at Teachers Village in Quezon City. He would bring comics that he bought at National Book Store and bring them with him and asked his grandfather how to pronounce words and what they meant. In time he learned to read his grandfather’s books himself.
Andy saw the differences between his childhood friends and his new classmates in the private school. Not only in their clothes and school supplies but also in their manners. These boys had a finesse about them and they were not all that rough and tumble like Boknoy and Junior Kalbo. Goldwyn and the other guys had nice, white and crisp polo shirts that never seemed to lose their creases even after the end of the school day. They even had pretty sisters who talked in English even when not in school.
Of course Andy would still hang out with Boknoy and Junior Kalbo and Lando on Saturdays and Sundays when there were no school related activities. In fact, they would shout his name outside their gate during such mornings and they would ride their bikes all the way to Arranque and buy pigeon feed. They had collective pigeon coops that they managed to maintain and increase since 4th Grade. But on some Saturday evenings, Andy’s world would change. His father would drive him to a soiree where he would mingle with girls from another school and He knew Muffy and Marina would never hang out with Boknoy and the others in his neighbourhood. Yes, Andy knew about drinks since he together with Boknoy and the gang would buy (bilog) and Mountain Dew on other Saturdays and drink behind the stage at the basketball court. In these soirees though, alcohol was strictly prohibited but Goldwyn and Caco would sneak in vodka (sapberry flavour) too.
As Andy went on to college, he got totally immersed with his studies and also exposed to the LFS. But the exigencies of his studies (he also enrolled in optional ROTC) took up most of his time. Junior Kalbo went to the home province of his father, Lando dropped out of school and now drove a tricycle and Boknoy was taken by his mother to the US.
During all these times, Andy would participate in election campaigns (local) because of family ties. He never experienced a time when there were no elections and the advent of first, cable TV and then the internet enabled him to get information as much as he wanted. It was here that he researched Martial Law. It was because of times when they had house guests and they talked about Mendiola and Welcome and Ayala. He never had any idea how it was to have no freedom, being born after EDSA.
But being a bank employee at a government financial institution, he also learned the real economy, what is unemployment and a stagnant agricultural sector since these were their clients in the bank. In fact, he saw what was needed for national development and learned to question the economic policies of the government.
This was then that Andy decided that he must take a more active part via groups that espoused a more economically sound policy. It was here that he came into contact not only with like minded people but also those with a whole new different perspective with regards to social and political policies.
Things came to a head when the elections resulted in a mere plurality elected president riding a wave of deep disenchantment for the policies of the last 30 years. Although trained in economics, finance and governance, Andy tried to wrestle with the phenomena that just happened. It was also the acrimonious campaign period that he realized the fissures in society and that a wave of EJKs were the norm in traditional media that he started to contact these persons that he got to know before. This was a time for organizing and trying to stave off the resulting firestorm that the country is headed. His meeting last week at Starbucks Metrowalk was a step towards that direction.
After finishing his cigarette , he turned to his TV which was kept on “mute”.
Davao Night Market Bomber says the quotron of CNN Philippines. Andy told himself that this is going to be a mean season.
