THE lady who was then secretary of Tourism was about to board her tricycle when she gave her parting shot to the reporters, “Forget Boracay. Go tour Malabon instead.”
Malabon, tourist destination? Well, yes, according to Wanda Teo. On three wheels, no less.
When Kris Aquino featured Malabon’s Calle Sarap of restaurants on her TV show, the restaurants reported peaks and spikes in their business for the next five months.
Today’s Malabon is caught between President Duterte telling the “mayor of Malabon” to “clean up” the drugs scene and Mayor Lenlen Oreta, 48, telling his constituents and media that he didn’t feel alluded to. For one thing, actually three, Malabon received the Silver Award from DILG in its drug abuse audit of 2017; all 21 barangays were declared drug-free workplaces while nine of the 21 were declared drug-free in 2018 by PDEA; PNP and PDEA cited Malabon for running the most drug-abuse prevention programs in the National Capital Region. Nonetheless, the mayor concedes that “drugs are our no. 1 problem.”
Maybe Mayor Oreta, who’s running for reelection on his last term, belongs to the wrong party? Not only is he a Liberal, he’s an Aquino on his mother Tessie’s side, the former senator being Benigno Aquino Jr.’s sister.
When people think of Malabon, they think of pancit and Dolor’s “kakanin,” now going into their third (or fourth?) generation. “They should also visit our ancestral homes,” urged Melissa, the mayor’s cheerleader. Young mothers could also learn a thing or two from the five-year-olds who take their hot meals in the city’s partner canteens for 120 days, cutting the malnutrition rate by half, in what the mayor considers a precious achievement.
The Malabon of memory also dredges up images of an old friend, RR, struggling through the “baha” (floods) at high tide and during the rainy months. As he has lived in Malabon all his life, I asked him if it’s true that “baha” is now a thing of the past. RR’s text: “Flood episodes fewer and shallower than in past 2 years. Also subside quickly!” I didn’t tell him that his mayor has assured non-Malabonians that the floods are limited to Bgy. Dampalit and only in a limited way.
