Malabon Part I

From infancy to 21 years old I have lived in a town called Malabon. Now it is a city. There are a lot of things I can remember with that place. Malabon is famous for being a fishing town, it has a huge fish market where all sorts of sea products can be seen. It is where merchants from all over the Metro get their goods. Another thing which Malabon is famous for is its Pancit Malabon.

Pancit Malabon is a type of pancit, or stir-fried noodle dish. It has a yellow-orange color due to a sauce that includes patis (fish sauce) and bagoong (shrimp paste). Its toppings draw heavily from the fresh seafood that is available in the area and may include fresh shrimp, squid, oysters, and hard-boiled duck or hen eggs, as well as pork.

Malabon is notorious for its floods during the wet season. Because it is below sea level, a small amount of rain or even just high tide will cause the streets to be submerged. It was hell there, your feet is always wet, plus there is the danger of disease, but somehow, the residents have managed to cope with it.

Before when I was still a little kid, I used to like it when it floods, classes are suspended and I get to stay at home. At the second floor that is, my parents wont allow me to play in the flood waters. I just watch from the window the people passing by in knee to thigh deep waters, and vehicles crawling its way through the flooded streets, the driving trying his best not to let go of the gas, otherwise, water comes rushing in his engine.

When I became capable enough to work, in my teens, I was tasked to do the arduous task of lifting to the second floor our stuffs whenever it floods. And then afterwards clean the mess when the flood has subsided. It was a back breaking job, that the older members of the family can't do without hurting themselves. So I was mostly the workhorse, the human pump of the house. Armed with a pail and dust pan, I swooped the water into the pail.

We have put a concrete barricade at our doorsteps to stop water from coming in. But somehow, there are cracks on the floor where the water manages to seep through. We usually just put a rag on the cracks, and when it is wet enough, we just wring it. But that barrier became ineffective as years passed by, the flood rose higher and higher each year. Even after we raised the flooring of the house by pouring dirt and covering it with cement, the relief was only temporary. After 3 or 4 years, the flood is higher than the barricade and the floor. Must be the effect of global warming. Sea level is continuously rising. Because of this, the task of ridding the house of flood water became harder, the barricade stops the water from coming out when the floods subside. So we bought a pump. Now I can rest a little. When the pump can't suck anymore water, that's the time I work. But that's still 2 inches of water in an area of 16 square meters.

Such is my life in Malabon. I used to get up early in the morning, around 3 am to clear the water, so that my young sisters can go down from the second floor. After they became capable, they started helping me.