March 2020, Thursday, the announcement was made that Metro Manila would most probably be put on lockdown. My first thought was how to get the whole family together under one roof. Our three children live with us in Baguio, but the two elder ones are in Metro Manila - the eldest in Makati and his younger sibling in Las Pinas.
We agreed to meet at my aunt's place in Malolos, Bulacan the following day, Friday the 13th of March.
With the planned lockdown merely a couple of days away, details were still murky, and aside from the virus itself, I worried about how the Enhanced Community Quarantine was going to be implemented by the government. This was a first, and nobody was an expert on this, I expected it to be chaotic especially during the first few days.
In Baguio, we still weren't sure if the city would be closed down, or at least how that would be done.
The next morning, feeling like we're in some thriller movie scene wherein we had to execute an extraction of persons in distress, RL, daughter Gabriela and I made our way to Bulacan. Both Marko and Sofia still had to attend to some work - the former's a content producer for a media outfit, and the latter's a pre-school teacher. The threat of COVID-19, the virus that causes severe respiratory issues with quite a high fatality rate, has been in the news for a few weeks already, but somehow it felt like it wouldn't reach our shores. The president himself downplaying the possibility of entry of the virus in our country, as well as if ever it did, that it was nothing to worry about, did nothing to help prepare any of us to go as far as being forced to stay indoors for weeks, and everyone was caught by surprise by this latest development.
 |
| Photo courtesy of Brenda Villanueva, OSHARE Baguio |
The last gathering I attended that involved quite a number of people was the forum organized by the Council for Baguio Creative City on February 4, 2020. And even as early as then, people were already talking about this virus that's wreaking havoc in Wuhan, China. At around this time, while other countries have instituted travel bans particularly those originating from Wuhan and the rest of China to protect their respective citizens, our president and his health secretary still continued to pander to China, very careful not to hurt that government's feelings, at the risk of putting Filipino lives at more risk. Flights continued to come in from China. At this gathering, although some of the attendees joked about no-handshakes, no-hugs, no-kisses, there were already a handful who seriously declined to shake hands, hug, or kiss anybody hello.
But in the days that followed, the threat was becoming more and more serious, and the local government's response was getting more and more aggressive. First event to be cancelled was the Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) opening parade. But other public spectacles scheduled for the rest of February were merely moved to a later date which included the rest of the Baguio Flower Festival's major events and Ipitik, a cultural event.
Then by mid-February, the mayor along with the lead conveners of the flower festival made a judgement call - Panagbenga 2020 has been cancelled altogether. By then, organizers were still playing it by ear with Ipitik, although as the situation escalated, that too was eventually cancelled.
This was reminiscent of the meningococcemia scare in Baguio in 2005, and while no lockdown was implemented, then Mayor Braulio Yaranon publicly discouraged tourists from coming to Baguio, which was was both welcomed (mostly by Baguio residents) and criticized (mostly by hoteliers and other tourist-oriented businesses).
While our daughter was already making her way to Bulacan, our eldest son was having second thoughts about leaving the metro because of his work. He shares an apartment at the Bonifacio Global City with other young professionals like him, and he was under the impression then that he would be better off staying put in case the situation improved and work resumed. earlier than expected. I couldn't convince him otherwise with conviction, as I myself couldn't picture exactly how things would unfold in the coming days. Our daughter, who had a car, was already exiting the Coastal Road expressway and was about to enter Pasay, she could either make her way straight to Malolos or still make a turn towards BGC when she passes Makati - I called my son to make a final decision. He chose to stay, assuring us that he would be safe and with a promise to be very careful and to stay in touch as often as he could.
We made a stop in San Fernando, Pampanga to begin stocking up on essentials. Inside S&R, known for goods sold at wholesale prices, despite the sight of the occasional shopper with more than the normal number of shopping carts lined up at the checkout counters, everything still seemed normal. After getting what we could, including a few extra items to share with our family in Bulacan, we journeyed on.
During the 4-5 hours' drive to Bulacan, we stayed online to keep ourselves updated, and the situation seemed to escalate as fast as we were going on the North Luzon Expressway that by the time we exited the highway in Pulilan, checkpoints were already being set in place in various entry points into Metro Manila.
Sofia was already at my aunt's house in Bulacan when we arrived around dusk. I worried about my aunt and her family's safety seeing that they still continued to operate their sari-sari store. We wanted to make our way back to Baguio right way, but my aunt wouldn't allow that without serving us dinner. We learned that my cousin's husband was due to arrive that coming Monday when the metro would have been on lockdown already, and nobody knew how he could make his way to Malolos then. We hoped that his flight would be diverted to Clark, Pampanga. I also told my aunt that I thought it was best for them to stop the operations of her sari-sari store. She thought so too. After dinner, we got into the car and made our way back up to Baguio.
At our usual final stop before driving up either Kennon Road or Marcos Highway in Sison, Pangasinan, I remembered the last long bike ride I took just a few days earlier, on March 11. It was a beautiful day, and I had an analog SLR camera with me that I was trying out to see if I would buy it from a friend who's selling it. I rode straight to Ililikha Artist's Watering Hole that day after a grueling over 5-hour climb up Kennon Road. There was an ongoing event that evening, a tatooing and piercing session that culminated in a live performance by the band, Baka-baka. A friend and her young son were there to have coffee with us, and they were already seated at a table with Rl. Although after a whole day on a bike, I wasn't up for coffee right away, so I ordered a refreshing smoothie instead which Del, the guy who made the concoction, said was an immune system booster. The mix of greens, bell peppers and whatever else Del put in it was refreshing, and delicious.
We arrived in Baguio way past midnight, early hours of March 14, and made a stop at Volante, the 24-hour pizza place in Pacdal to wait for our youngest son who was being dropped off by his friends coming from a party. At 2:00 AM, the quietness of Pacdal, usually bustling with activity during the day with children on ponies riding around and endless stream of tourist vans coming and going, already had a strangeness to it, could even be disquieting. I took a snapshot of my own shadow created by the lamp post from across the road. And I thought then that this, right now, right here, this feeling, this disquiet, this eeriness, this feeling of anxiety, this is what it's going be like in the next few weeks.
March 14, 2020, Saturday, we decided to head to downtown Baguio to get more essential supplies. I was able to make a detour to Ililikha Artist's Watering Hole for a coffee break. It was eerily quieter that afternoon. This time, people were taking social distancing a bit more seriously already. Having a cigarette at the rather cramped smoking area, I wondered if the couple of feet between the other smokers and myself were enough. I feel a sneeze coming on, I try to and successfully stifle it.
The announcement has been made, Baguio, together with the rest of Luzon, will be under Enhanced Community Quarantine. This is becoming more and more real.
On the way home, I remembered the negatives I had processed which I forgot to pass by for. So the next day, I made that one last trip to Session Road on the day before the city goes into lockdown, Sunday, March 15, 2020. The air in downtown Baguio was different with much less vehicles on the roads and people on the sidewalks, which, again, felt just like that moment in Pacdal earlier, quite heavy. I first went to the market for some fresh produce and coffee. There were only a few stalls open, and I almost didn't get to buy coffee - the only stall open that sold coffee was already closing shop for the day and didn't want to sell anymore. I told the lady behind the counter that I didn't need the coffee beans ground, and she agreed to make that one last sale. I couldn't remember all the ingredients Del put in his immune system boosting concoction, but that's ok, we had vitamin supplements in stock already.
I carried my market bags up Session Road towards Photo Tech Studio Cafe, and there was only one client there, photojournalist Andy Zapata, seated at a table with a face mask on. These days, it's so hard to determine whether people are glad to see you or not, sometimes the eyes don't communicate everything. From a distance of more than six feet, he pulls down the mask to say hello, we both sigh. My negatives were ready, I said thank you to the lady behind the counter and goodbye to Andy and rushed towards a photo printing shop a few meters down the road to have the negatives scanned and a contact print made.
That was the last time I was in unrestricted Baguio.
At home, both our sons had their respective girlfriends over. We were still unsure about how the quarantine would be implemented, and heard that borders between Baguio and neighboring towns were already being closed. The younger son's friend decided that she wanted to go home to Tawang, La Trinidad, Benguet. But we weren't sure anymore if I would be allowed to dive her all the way from our place in Tuding, Itogon into Baguio (first possible checkpoint), down towards Brookside and up to Ambiong (second possible checkpoint). We made arrangements with her parents to meet us at the border between Baguio and La Trinidad in Ambiong.
This drive felt even more like being in some movie, the tension was more palpable as we, my son, his friend and I entered the area, we started looking out for the checkpoint. After passing a corner where we saw some police cars and personnel yet had no barricades, we stopped a few meters down the road and realized that that may have actually been the checkpoint already. Though we were not stopped, we decided to turn around and wait on the Baguio side of that spot. Her parents arrived, and after saying their goodbyes, she hopped into her parent's car.
My son and made our way back home mostly in silence, until I asked him, "What do you think?"
"About?"
"This whole thing, the virus, the lockdown..."
"I don't know..."
"Yeah, me too, I don't know..."
Yeah, we didn't know.
But in the days that followed, the threat was becoming more and more serious, and the local government's response was getting more and more aggressive. First event to be cancelled was the Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) opening parade. But other public spectacles scheduled for the rest of February were merely moved to a later date which included the rest of the Baguio Flower Festival's major events and Ipitik, a cultural event.
Then by mid-February, the mayor along with the lead conveners of the flower festival made a judgement call - Panagbenga 2020 has been cancelled altogether. By then, organizers were still playing it by ear with Ipitik, although as the situation escalated, that too was eventually cancelled.
This was reminiscent of the meningococcemia scare in Baguio in 2005, and while no lockdown was implemented, then Mayor Braulio Yaranon publicly discouraged tourists from coming to Baguio, which was was both welcomed (mostly by Baguio residents) and criticized (mostly by hoteliers and other tourist-oriented businesses).
While our daughter was already making her way to Bulacan, our eldest son was having second thoughts about leaving the metro because of his work. He shares an apartment at the Bonifacio Global City with other young professionals like him, and he was under the impression then that he would be better off staying put in case the situation improved and work resumed. earlier than expected. I couldn't convince him otherwise with conviction, as I myself couldn't picture exactly how things would unfold in the coming days. Our daughter, who had a car, was already exiting the Coastal Road expressway and was about to enter Pasay, she could either make her way straight to Malolos or still make a turn towards BGC when she passes Makati - I called my son to make a final decision. He chose to stay, assuring us that he would be safe and with a promise to be very careful and to stay in touch as often as he could.
We made a stop in San Fernando, Pampanga to begin stocking up on essentials. Inside S&R, known for goods sold at wholesale prices, despite the sight of the occasional shopper with more than the normal number of shopping carts lined up at the checkout counters, everything still seemed normal. After getting what we could, including a few extra items to share with our family in Bulacan, we journeyed on.
During the 4-5 hours' drive to Bulacan, we stayed online to keep ourselves updated, and the situation seemed to escalate as fast as we were going on the North Luzon Expressway that by the time we exited the highway in Pulilan, checkpoints were already being set in place in various entry points into Metro Manila.
Sofia was already at my aunt's house in Bulacan when we arrived around dusk. I worried about my aunt and her family's safety seeing that they still continued to operate their sari-sari store. We wanted to make our way back to Baguio right way, but my aunt wouldn't allow that without serving us dinner. We learned that my cousin's husband was due to arrive that coming Monday when the metro would have been on lockdown already, and nobody knew how he could make his way to Malolos then. We hoped that his flight would be diverted to Clark, Pampanga. I also told my aunt that I thought it was best for them to stop the operations of her sari-sari store. She thought so too. After dinner, we got into the car and made our way back up to Baguio.
At our usual final stop before driving up either Kennon Road or Marcos Highway in Sison, Pangasinan, I remembered the last long bike ride I took just a few days earlier, on March 11. It was a beautiful day, and I had an analog SLR camera with me that I was trying out to see if I would buy it from a friend who's selling it. I rode straight to Ililikha Artist's Watering Hole that day after a grueling over 5-hour climb up Kennon Road. There was an ongoing event that evening, a tatooing and piercing session that culminated in a live performance by the band, Baka-baka. A friend and her young son were there to have coffee with us, and they were already seated at a table with Rl. Although after a whole day on a bike, I wasn't up for coffee right away, so I ordered a refreshing smoothie instead which Del, the guy who made the concoction, said was an immune system booster. The mix of greens, bell peppers and whatever else Del put in it was refreshing, and delicious.
 |
| Some images taken during that bike ride down and up Kennon Road, a few days before the lockdown began. |
I was still able to have the negatives processed on March 12, Thursday which the studio said would be ready by Saturday. I liked the pictures I took during the ride, and couldn't wait to see them in print.
 |
| Baka-baka performs at that last public event held at Ililikha |
We arrived in Baguio way past midnight, early hours of March 14, and made a stop at Volante, the 24-hour pizza place in Pacdal to wait for our youngest son who was being dropped off by his friends coming from a party. At 2:00 AM, the quietness of Pacdal, usually bustling with activity during the day with children on ponies riding around and endless stream of tourist vans coming and going, already had a strangeness to it, could even be disquieting. I took a snapshot of my own shadow created by the lamp post from across the road. And I thought then that this, right now, right here, this feeling, this disquiet, this eeriness, this feeling of anxiety, this is what it's going be like in the next few weeks. 
The announcement has been made, Baguio, together with the rest of Luzon, will be under Enhanced Community Quarantine. This is becoming more and more real.
On the way home, I remembered the negatives I had processed which I forgot to pass by for. So the next day, I made that one last trip to Session Road on the day before the city goes into lockdown, Sunday, March 15, 2020. The air in downtown Baguio was different with much less vehicles on the roads and people on the sidewalks, which, again, felt just like that moment in Pacdal earlier, quite heavy. I first went to the market for some fresh produce and coffee. There were only a few stalls open, and I almost didn't get to buy coffee - the only stall open that sold coffee was already closing shop for the day and didn't want to sell anymore. I told the lady behind the counter that I didn't need the coffee beans ground, and she agreed to make that one last sale. I couldn't remember all the ingredients Del put in his immune system boosting concoction, but that's ok, we had vitamin supplements in stock already.
I carried my market bags up Session Road towards Photo Tech Studio Cafe, and there was only one client there, photojournalist Andy Zapata, seated at a table with a face mask on. These days, it's so hard to determine whether people are glad to see you or not, sometimes the eyes don't communicate everything. From a distance of more than six feet, he pulls down the mask to say hello, we both sigh. My negatives were ready, I said thank you to the lady behind the counter and goodbye to Andy and rushed towards a photo printing shop a few meters down the road to have the negatives scanned and a contact print made.That was the last time I was in unrestricted Baguio.
At home, both our sons had their respective girlfriends over. We were still unsure about how the quarantine would be implemented, and heard that borders between Baguio and neighboring towns were already being closed. The younger son's friend decided that she wanted to go home to Tawang, La Trinidad, Benguet. But we weren't sure anymore if I would be allowed to dive her all the way from our place in Tuding, Itogon into Baguio (first possible checkpoint), down towards Brookside and up to Ambiong (second possible checkpoint). We made arrangements with her parents to meet us at the border between Baguio and La Trinidad in Ambiong.
This drive felt even more like being in some movie, the tension was more palpable as we, my son, his friend and I entered the area, we started looking out for the checkpoint. After passing a corner where we saw some police cars and personnel yet had no barricades, we stopped a few meters down the road and realized that that may have actually been the checkpoint already. Though we were not stopped, we decided to turn around and wait on the Baguio side of that spot. Her parents arrived, and after saying their goodbyes, she hopped into her parent's car.
My son and made our way back home mostly in silence, until I asked him, "What do you think?"
"About?"
"This whole thing, the virus, the lockdown..."
"I don't know..."
"Yeah, me too, I don't know..."
Yeah, we didn't know.
No comments:
Post a Comment