TAMBAY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS
The tambay in today’s world has come a long, painful and decrepit way from 1959 when Fred Panopio sang about the proverbial kanto boys in his iconic Pitong Gatang.
Panopio’s song was heard during non-lethal times. To wit, a portion of the song goes:
May isang munting tindahan,
Sa bukana ng Umbuyan
At sa kanto ng kalye Pitong Gatang.
Dito ay nag-uumpukan ang ilang pilyong istambay
Na walang hanapbuhay kundi ganyan.
Ito ay hindi tsismis napag-uusapan lang.
Yo de le hi ho
Walang labis, walang kulang.
Today, the tambay in the corner is no longer considered the harmless idle person watching the girls go by, shooting the breeze as they drink beer while sitting on the sari-sari store’s obliging bangko.
Apparently, this is not what they are perceived to be doing now on those dark, dimly lit starless nights. They are now suspected of planning something sinister when on the contrary, they are just out for a restful respite from work and from the heat.
They have no air-con and many can’t even afford an electric fan. The hovels and shanties of the ‘50s have multiplied with the multiplication of people huddled in miserable areas. Can’t they have the little joys of life which they have a right to enjoy?
So these people leave their cramped quarters to escape doldrums, cares and the heat all caused by poverty. We offer herewith our own update of what today’’s tambay has to endure:
In Memory of Tambay Tisoy
Iskinita ang aming Luneta,
Tindahang sari-sari, aming Shangri-la
Halik ng hangin sa pisngi
Pangtuyo ng pawis, pang-alis ng uhaw
Sa init ng bawat gabi at araw.
Dahil sa kulang sa kain sigarilyo na lang
Maski sakit sa baga ang aming aabutin.
Kaming mga tambay
Pala’y huhulihin
At ipapasok sa seldang
Mainit at masikip
At muli walang hangin.
Isang daan at dalwampu’t walong tao
Ipiit sa kulungang pang-apatnapo
Kaming mga tambay
Wala palang karapatan
Managinip at isipin
Na kami ay sasagipin ng langit
At kakanlungin ng hangin.
Kami’y walang kasalanan at kami ay nakatayo lamang
Sa kantong sa amin
Ay naging tambayan.
Kami’y nakatayo at kung minsan nakiki-upo
Sa bangko nagkwekwentuhan, nagte-text
At minsa’y nainom, mapawi lang ang siphayo
Mga Kabalyero, mga Don
Kami din kamukha ninyo, mararangal na tao.
At sa dulo nang lahat ng ito,
Panginoong Diyos, kami ay pakinggan at iligtas ninyo.
The news is ever changing and getting more shocking every day that it is hard to close a chapter without having to go back and update the different sections. The Manila Times’ front page 26 articles of Yen Macabenta prove two things: the authorities do not know the law and therefore, they cannot implement the Constitution.
Republic Act 10158 on vagrancy was abolished way back in 2012, so under what law are supposed “loiterers” being hauled to overcrowded, unsanitary and subhuman police cell?
As Yen Macabenta pointed out, it could possibly be under the principle of “parens patriae.” Under this principle the “offenders” are taken out of the streets for their own protection, so that they would not become criminals or victims of criminals. (To be continued/PN)
