Filipino Drive

It was around 2008 and my father, who runs a small construction firm, was securing a contract to work on a high-paying project to provide pre-cast moulding. At the time he was driving a white first gen Honda CR-V. It was a smaller and humbler SUV compared to its much larger and more popular rivals such as the Pajero, Land Cruiser, and Expedition at the time. Despite that, I loved our CR-V. It meant that we no longer had to look up when we were stuck in traffic with bigger cars around us. More importantly, it meant that we were no longer helpless whenever the streets flooded. It was always a heroic sight whenever I saw our CR-V fording knee-deep flood-waters. But alas, I never would have thought it would be taken away from us in an unexpected way. There's no other way to put it, my father was already well beyond retirement age during 2008. That meant projects rarely came to his company without a hint of doubt regarding his ability due to his age. So when a project was offered t...

The rain was relentless that night. Crowds were packed under the fly-over on the intersection of Katipunan and Marcos Highway. It was almost 7:00 pm and my friend and I had not been able to find a jeepney with space for even just one of us. We must have spent an hour waiting, holding and pointing our umbrellas to the left where the rain was getting under the bridge. Our bags were heavy with laptops, notebooks, papers. It was especially hard for my friend who was also carrying another set of clothes and toiletries. I could feel my shoulder protest in lingering pain as I pull my friend along. I tell my friend to get in the nearby jeep even though its route was not towards my house. I make sure my friend’s seated inside while I latch myself at the back, hanging on for dear life while the jeep thunders along Marcos Highway in the pouring rain. Eventually, after some creative re-thinking of our commute, we reach our house. I turned to my friend, face red with embarrassment, and told her, ...