A feature story originally submitted for my Journ 108 [Environmental Journalism] class.
Bili na suki…… May tawad pa………..Dito na kayo sa mas sariwa. Sales talks like these are commonly overheard in the public market of Baguio City. But what catches the market goers more attention are the child vendors who are oftentimes seen chasing customers to offer the plastic bags of bigger sizes they sell. They do this without thinking of the hazards the market has.
Boy Bawang (as he is fondly called by fellow child vendors because of his addiction for the corn bits brand) has been selling plastic bags for two years now. He laughingly admits that he only used a single line when selling his products, that is “Gumatang ka metten ah maam” (Please buy from me , Maam). When I asked him if he knows about the city ordinance that encourages the use of bayongs in replace of plastic bags in the city more particularly in the public market, he quickly replied, “Adiay laengen garud ti ilakok ah”(Then that’s what I’m going to sell now).
Boy Bawang whose real name is Jessie Pang-ot gladly accepted my invitation to join him while he goes around his kingdom, the public market. Our starting point….his family’s six square meter residence. He and his family are not natives of Baguio City. They came all the way from Lagawe, a place he proudly refers to as “Idiay ak inyanak “(I was born there).
It was in 2005 when his mother and two other siblings went to Baguio City to pay a surprise visit to his father who works for a mining company here since they only get to see the head of the family every other two months. But when they heard that their place (which they illegally occupied) in Lagawe was being demolished by the true owner, that’s when they decided to stay in the city. Life in Lagawe was not that hard according to his mother, Leticia and it only became so hard since their migration. Jessie fondly recalls that in Lagawe, he walks for roughly an hour to get to school and he never complained at all. Their environment gave everything they needed, from food to clothing and shelter.
All these changed since then. At the age of nine, Jessie stopped schooling while his two other siblings aged six and seven continued to go to school. According to Jessie, it was his own decision to stop and help his mom who has gotten sick for almost a year now by selling plastic bags in the market. Not all they need can be provided by the environment not unlike in Lagawe.
Jessie gets up from bed (or from the mat since they don’t have mattress) at six o’clock to prepare his siblings’ things. At seven he sends them to school then goes back home to sleep again. But since I was doing an investigative sort of thing, he willingly stayed up to answer my questions.
After an hour or two chitchatting, Jessie said it’s time to do his business to which I gladly replied, “Ok, Kokey”. “Anya kunam?” (What did you say?), he asked. I realized I forgot that he doesn’t get to watch the newest addiction of kids his age since they don’t have television in their house.
After reaching he and his fellow child vendors’ meeting place who, like Jessie stopped schooling to help in the family, their business automatically started. Jessie’s place was the wet section of the market.They started to chase each other to get more customers. Jessie jumped from one buyer to the other. He poses a big smile when he sees local and foreign tourist because according to him, they sometimes pay extra penny for his plastic bags. But the tourists he saw were unfortunately, not generous enough. He and his fellow child vendors had a common sign language to signal the time to rest. The rest meant running around while playing the game “mahuli taya”. In that whole day, Jessie only managed to eat two pieces of cinnamon bread he bought in Master Hopia and a bottle of water he brought as his baon.
At three o’clock, he stopped selling and decided to go home early because he is also in charge of fetching his siblings from school. I asked him how much he earned from selling, he replied in a joking manner “Adda ka gamin isu nga wan lakok tatta” (You were there so I did not earn that much). Normally, Jessie earns from thirty to fifty pesos a day but on the fateful day, he only earned fifteen pesos to which he referred to as enough to buy a can of sardines.
When we reached their house, he immediately cooked rice and opened the can or sardines which we bought while walking to the school where his other siblings Junie and Jeng studies. They invited me to join in their dinner but I refused. Jessie only made a remark. “Kastoy ti biag min manipud idiay immalis kamin, subra rigat na, han nga kasla diay Lagawe nga haan nga dakkel a banag ti kwarta. Ditoy gamin ket am amin ket gatangenen”. (This was our life since then, it’s so hard not unlike in Lagawe where money is not a big deal. Here in Baguio, it is.) It becomes shocking to me that Jessie at his age talks like an adult already.
I bid Jessie and his family goodbye after a cup of coffee his mother prepared for me. To my surprise, Jessie said “Ok Kokey “as he waved his hands to me.
Truly, the environment has changed a lot. It doesn’t provide us anymore of the things we need because of our own wrong doings; we abused it. It then becomes a survival of the fittest.
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