Jay Ignacio

... I LIVE IN AYALA ALABANG?

Snob?
Asshole?
Nouveau Riche?
Idle rich?
Coño?
Mayabang?
Uy, hingan natin ng pera?
Friend?

Unless you also reside in the same village, or have close ties with some people from within, everyone always has something unpleasant to say. And the thing is, they don't need to say a word for you to know what they're thinking.

"Ah," or "Oh," or even just dead silence says it all. There are times, when asked where i live, that i feel uneasy about telling them where i actually reside because from personal experience, i have had people literally turn their backs on me or give me snide remarks. Now, depending on who is asking, I hesitate, anticipate and just give a vague description of the general area so as not to alienate myself. This happens everytime.

I once took a short Education course in some small College along the Alabang Service Road area. It was run by public school teachers and my classmates were all minimum wage folk who had aspirations of being teachers in America. I wanted to be a licensed teacher because I believe that education is the best solution to all the country's woes. For the first two weeks i managed to sort of blend in with the crowd. Together we all shared the xeroxing bills for the chop-suey textbooks the school lent, did all our homework and research together, and even shared our baon. The only thing that made me stick out a bit was the fact that i had my own transportation - a pickup that, to me, didn't look too conspicuous. A couple of classmates got curious enough to snoop on my vehicle and noticed the residential sticker on the windshield.

"Taga Ayala Alabang ka pala," declared one of them, and word got around really fast. Soon enough, i started getting comments like "Hoy, manlibre ka naman, mayaman ka pala eh!" Another person said "Wow, ano'ng ginagawa mo dito eh hindi mo naman kailangan magtrabaho?" And there were several who never spoke to me again.

So what's with the address? Unlike Forbes, Dasma, Valle Verde and the rest, Ayala Alabang bears a stigma. Why is that? What does it represent?

Let me tell you what it represents to ME:

1. The quality of life that my late father aspired for and, through sheer hard work and determination, achieved - He was born in Nueva Ecija to a clerk and a woman who sold bakyas and alpombras at the palengke. He was an honest, quiet man who kept mostly to himself, his wife and three children and worked tirelessly to provide for them and to be in his Creator's good graces.

2. The need to work just as hard to maintain everything that he worked so hard for - in short, to be just like him or even better.

3. That there is so much in this world to aspire for, and that I should never be complacent - hindi puwede ang "puwede na."

I am my father's child, i am my mother's child. I am blessed, fortunate and driven to succeed.

I am grateful and more importantly,

Puta, coño, Jake, pare, I live in Ayala Alabang!