From Bell Bottoms To Rock Bottom

The article last week on the 1970s elicited a bunch of e-mails from baby boomers. It’s been three decades since those colorful years. This is not to say that today’s events are not as colorful – they’re just a bit obscured by faded memories of middle age, smog, and a longing for the days when we were all younger and burdened with less responsibilities.

Reader AF wrote, "I did not realize that 30 years had already passed since the declaration of martial law. I was in Manila at the time, studying at a catechetical center called Mother of Life in Novaliches. We were not allowed to go out on the streets of Manila – the madres (nuns) were so afraid because there was a brownout at the time. I remember the sharp look I got from a classmate when I offered a seat in a bus to a standing soldier. The madres were always in front of the TV set, waiting for the next pronouncements of (then Press Secretary) Kit Tatad. Where is he now? That was quite a year and will always be part of my life in the big city."

Skirting The Issue

They had many checkpoint stops in those days and often, the soldiers manning them were more concerned about checking out your date’s legs than your papers.

Kit Tatad is still around. (It seems that AF was writing from overseas; it’s a little hard to tell from e-mail addresses like yahoo and hotmail.) His pronouncements still seem to draw fear and anxiety (that the self-righteousness and moral supremacy of the religious and moneyed elite still control our destinies).

Another reader from the Valley of Shoes reminisces, "I surely have my own vivid memories of the ’70s. Though I was barely four years old in the mid-’70s, I distinctly remember the kind of life we had in Marikina (which back then was still a part of Rizal province). I and my dad used to do a duet of the song Look Dick Look and I remember how often we went to Nayong Pilipino, CCP, Fort Santiago, and Luneta Park with the rest of the clan."

Yes, like this reader, I do remember doing all those things, too, including the "mamasyal-ka-sa-Luneta-ng-walang-pera" stuff. (Where’s Rico J now?) My only memories of Marikina then were shopping for good shoes and visiting the then new Loyola Memorial Gardens. This was a wonderful concept introduced by the Puyats and masterfully designed by Ildefonso P. Santos, the famous pioneer landscape architect. (Santos was also instrumental in the building of Nayong Pilipino, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and parts of Luneta.)

A Bombastic Past

Not all the e-mails were nostalgic-romantic though. Reader FPC from Valenzuela City had more explosive memories. He wrote:

Dear Sir:

Actually, life wasn’t simpler in the ’70s as 1972 was a turning point in our history that would make or break our country as a nation. I was in second year high school then at Torres High (Tondo, Manila) when martial law was declared. Commuting then was not a problem – I would take a public ride all the way from Valenzuela (where I live) to Tondo. There was anarchy and mayhem in the streets preceding the declaration of martial law; riots and demonstrations were our daily fare. We were no strangers to molotov cocktail bombs or pillboxes – those were the things one was wary of in the street jungles of Manila during those turbulent times. Our school, like other public high schools and universities then, was constantly being stormed by red flag-waving youths, laborers and activists. Rockets, explosions and bombings were constant threats to us even inside the campus.

The ’70s was a soul-searching decade, precipitated by the Vietnam War, the rise of the communist ideology, the cold war, the growing population and environmental pollution. The martial law era dictated the destiny of our people as a nation in a negative way but we were resilient as the bamboo (and survived). The Marcos years bred a culture of decadence, greed and corruption in our political leaders and civil servants and these continue to this day. We have not exorcised the past.

Purging the Past

Martial law is gone. Marcos and Elvis are probably dueting in that big karaoke palace somewhere out there. Micro-minis, Nik-Niks, Faded Glories, clutch bags for men, Toyota Celicas, Crispa-Toyota games, Gerard Peters models, the hustle, the 12 steps, the bump, Penthouse Seven, John en Marsha, BF Resort, Antipolo Hotel, Alibi bar, Where Else, Rizal, Magallanes and Greenhills Theatres, the elegance of Manila Hotel, the Magnolia ice cream place on Aurora Boulevard, Choco-Vim, tetra paks and eight-track tapes are now things of the past. But the past, as our Valenzueleño says, is still with us.

Metro Manila is still around but it is more a City of Slums than a "City of Man," because of floods, fractured governance and the folly of speculative real estate development. Politicians are still around. They’re still the same old faces and names (but new hair or toupee), although their party affiliations and the parties themselves change more often than traffic lights. Traffic is still with us but now extends all the way to Bulacan, Antipolo and Batangas.

Soldiers are still around and men in uniform are everywhere, from the ubiquitous security guards to success-challenged terrorist-kidnapper chasers. Crime is still with us but it’s getting harder and harder to discern the law enforcer or lawmaker from the lawbreaker. Poverty still defines the lives of most Filipinos, and now it’s more pervasive than ever. We continue to have a (Breton Woods Twins-defined) semblance of an economy but we are globalizing without being first self-reliant and we still do not produce much of anything except OCWs. We still have some quality of public and social life but what little there is, is more and more shaped by consumption rather than a sense of community.

We have not exorcised our past. The power of prayer, Standard and Poor’s ratings, or several People Power uprisings cannot seem to compel us to change. From the bell bottom blues of the Seventies, have we now reached rock bottom?

Well, there’s always the next 30 years.

* * * HCS Notes

The Heritage Conservation Society and the Museum Foundation of the Philippines are organizing an archi-tectural walking tour of the San Miguel District on Aug.18 starting at 3 p.m. Meeting place is the Machuca Tile Factory at 687 General Solano Street, San Miguel.

The Arrabal of San Miguel is one of Manila’s oldest and contains many heritage structures. It was home to Philippine presidents and many of Manila’s alta sociedad families since the late 19th century. Much of that heritage survived the war and events of the last half century. Take a trip back to the days of yore. The HCS and the MFP guarantee it won’t be a bore. Call 521-2239, 522-2497 or text 0917-830-0293 or 0917-795-2697 for reservations, directions or inquiries about other HCS architectural walking tours.

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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at citysensephil star@hotmail.com