Southern Leyte News

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No Place like Home
By ANTONIO M. REYES

Whenever I return to Southern Leyte after a visit to Manila, I am thankful we decided to move here, away from the pollution and chaos of our capital city. Last Tuesday it took us almost 2 hours to reach Quezon City by taxi from the airport.

Everything there revolves around shopping malls, which in our case is the Trinoma, which contains three mega-malls.

It’s only a short walk from Philam-Homes where our ancestral house is located and just across the street from the Veteran’s Memorial Hospital where Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is being held under hospital arrest. We use to play at the golf course there on weekends when I was a consultant at the Philippine Coconut Authority. Its one of the most beautiful hospital I have seen.

You have to be time conscious in Manila, and avoid rush hours, and when possible take the Metro Rail Transportation (MRT) which is cheaper, faster and safer to ride on. Unless of course you are an attractive woman. In which case you could end up getting an unwanted full-body massage before reaching your destination.

If you must take a taxi make sure your doors are locked because there are young hoodlums there who specialize in mugging taxi passengers immobilized by traffic jams. These scalawags are “untouchable” for they can’t be jailed since they are protected by a stupid law that place them under the protective custody of DSWD – or (worse still) their parents.

Aside from its malls, which are considered among the best in the world, Metro-Manila’s other attraction is its large number of excellent eating places.

You can enjoy delicious regional Filipino cuisine there and savor Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Mediterranean food as well.

Then of course there is that other “unmentionable” attraction which our government bureaucrats denies exits but which United States Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Tomas insists attracts 70 percent of male tourists to the country.

Ano Kaya Yoon?