Greasing the wheels in Manila

By Cory Anotado
Collegian Staff
January 23, 2008

The Philippines is a group of tropical islands off the coast of Southeast Asia. It has a rich history of getting taken over by Spain, getting taken over by America, then getting taken over by corrupt leaders and their crazy, shoe-obsessed wives. It has the requisite white, sandy beaches, the historic locations that make up the fifth chapter of your World War II textbook and enough English-speaking people to make an American like myself feel comfortable. As an American-born Filipino, the draw to the land of my ancestors is a draw too powerful to ignore. I last visited in December 2007, and it’s an experience I will never forget.

For the vacationing tourist, there are several places to discover. In Metro Manila, the country’s capital, and surrounding cities, there are many sights to see, including: Nayong Pilipino, a theme park honoring the various cultural and racial groups of the Philippines; the Coconut Palace, where about 70 percent of the building’s structure is made from coconut trees; and the Mall of Asia, the largest mall in the Philippines and the third largest shopping center in the world (in terms of gross leasable area).

As I sat in the Starbucks outside the studios of ABS-CBS television in Quezon City, Philippines, I was nervous. My dad’s girlfriend, Marj, had disappeared and my only companion at this point was the morning paper. In time, she returned and a security guard called us back into the main lobby of ABS-CBN studios. He said in a mixture of Filipino (the national language of the Philippines) and English that he found someone that could help us, but he wasn’t immediately available. Marj gave the security guard something that I couldn’t see, and the security guard perked up. “Oh, let me get him for you.” Marj looked pleased and I looked confused.

I saw Marj walk into the Starbucks with a look on her face that I couldn’t read. It looked like a mix between disappointment and confusion. I asked her what the problem was. “The security guard said that he would find someone to help us, but we shouldn’t have come here so urgently, without warning.” She went to the barrista and ordered some kind of fruity drink, then sat at the table with me and waited. A short 20-something guy walked up to me and Marj. He had spiky hair and an ABS-CBN employee name tag. He greeted us fondly and gave us some stickers, a keychain and pointed us to a room to the side. For the past three hours, we had been trying to sneak our way into the studio audience of the ABS-CBN game show Wowowee. We got in, and to make a long story short, I won $200.

To make that short story a wee bit longer, the Philippines is a place where anyone can bribe a security guard to have a good time.

anotadoc1@lasalle.edu