It's the real thing

It was a spur-of-the-moment trip to Lakandula Street in Tondo, Manila on a lazy Sunday afternoon that opened the floodgates for me to the reach and enduring power of Coca-Cola. After all, I was a product of the Coke generation before the term “healthy lifestyle” became part of our vocabulary and DNA.

Old habits are hard to shed and ice-cold Coke is here to stay. But of course, in those days, we drank the contents and dumped the bottles, sometimes getting five or 10 centavos back for returning the bottles.

Not so for Consuelo Santiago. She kept — and kept and kept — coolers, refrigerators, pots and pans, magnets, caps, T-shirts, pillows, radios, pens, bags, toy cars, trucks and planes, pennants, clocks, guitars (yes, guitars), mugs, plates, trays, stuffed polar bears, dolls, curtains, Christmas décor, cosmetic cases, bikinis and — unbelievably — thousands and thousands of bottles and cans.

One wonders: why hasn’t Coca-Cola bought her collection? Perhaps only the Coca-Cola moguls in Atlanta would be able to match what Ching has!

Jay-Ar Mendoza, the president of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club in the Philippines, and his Coca-Cola collector wife Rona were on hand to meet us, as was Angel, the nephew of Ching — who shares the same fanaticism over Coca-Cola memorabilia — when we visited Ching to see her collection.

The attachment to Coca-Cola keepsakes can only grow more rabid as Mrs. Santiago and her friends continue foraging in ukay-ukays and secondhand stores where a significant number of toys, cars and figurines — collectibles easily numbering in the thousands — have been sourced.

No way would Ching skip a Coca-Cola item for her collection. “Wala akong pinapalampas. Basta Coca-Cola sigurado! Kahit ano pa yan, dapat mapasaakin,” she enthused.

Day in, day out, Ching will be seen in a Coca-Cola T-shirt. “Nagtataka nga mga kapitbahay ko kasi paglabas ng bahay lagi akong naka Coca-Cola T-shirt. Parang walking billboard na ako ng Coke. Wala naman bayad yan,” she mused.

I told her she should be given a prize for the free advertisement she is giving Coca-Cola. In fact, that is the reason she landed a space in this column!

Literally, her place is wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with memorabilia — leaving just enough space open to keep her windows and doors free of Coke items!

“Five years ago, I started my collection. Before that I was into ballroom dancing and bowling. One day, I attended a toy fair at Megamall and I saw the exhibit of the Coca-Cola memorabilia collectors and this inspired me to start my own,” Ching says.

Ching does not drink Pepsi products or patronize non-Coke establishments! As a die-hard member of the Coca-Cola Collector’s Club, she attends club meetings, swap meets, flea markets and picks Coke items up from sidewalks locally and around the world.

“I am proud to say that, as far as Philippine-made Coke bottles and cans are concerned, ‘halos complete na ako!’ Dati bumibili ako ng P50-P70 per bottle tapos nakikipag-exchange ako sa mga Chinese, Malaysian, American, Korean and wherever else the Coca-Cola Collectors Fair is held,” Ching says.

“Mga kaibigan kong nagba-ballroom nagbibigay din sa akin. Hindi ko pa nga nakukuha yung Coca-Cola lipstick galing kay Rosebud na dala nya mula sa States,” she adds.

Whenever she goes to fairs abroad, she eventually recovers all her expenses.

“Last month, pumunta kami ng Malaysia. Yung pamasahe namin, nababawi rin,” she proudly declares.

“Binibigyan din kami ng mga gifts. Kapag gusto naming ibenta tutubo rin kami. Nagdadala kami ng pang-swap namin kasi maraming makikita doon na wala ditto,” Ching adds.

“Nanggaling ako sa Baler, Quezon kung saan mga sidecar driver ay may Coca-Cola bottle na pinaglalagyan ng gasolina. Namimili kami doon at sinasalin namin ang gasolina nila sa ibang lalagyan.

“Yung 500ml wala na kasi ngayon. Napaka-rare na hanapin yun,” she observes.

Even rusty bottle covers are of value to Ching.

“Sa mga foreign collectors, hangga’t kinakalawang mas lalong gusto nila. Nakikipag-swap kami ng bote at tansan,” she adds.

“Balang araw puro plastic na lang at wala nang bote. Kasi mas mahal daw para sa Coca-Cola ang gumamit ng bote kesa pet bottle,” she tells us.

“Kaya kami bumibili kami ng maraming Coke bottles at tinatago namin. Nakatambak lang sa bahay,” she chides.

Her daughter in the US is also hooked on collecting.

“Yung anak ko naghahanap ng lata ng Coke na may mga pangalan dahil mahal ang shipping, dinadala niya pag-uwi niya dito. Sayang! Tinatapon lang doon ang lata at bote ng Coke,” she states.

Ching has found other uses for Coke cans and bottles. “Pati mga kaibigan ko nagpupulot na rin ng mga lata para sa akin. Maganda gawing divider yun. Ihelera lang ng ganoon, hindi na kailangan magpintura. Yun na ang pinaka-wall,” she says while showing us her collection.

Her collection of Coca-Cola stuffed polar bears may one day perhaps outnumber those still existing in the wild! “Favorite ko yung mga bears kasi parang feeling ko lagi akong bata kahit 68 years old na ako,” she laments.

Five giant Coke bottles stand like sentries by the door. They are the most expensive pieces she has, at $200 each.

She has carved out a niche in her three-story home and appropriately calls it the music room. She has drums cut out and painted with the Coca-Cola logo, now used as chairs. The room has everything related to music — guitars, speakers, headsets, MP3s, radios, turntables and so much more — all Coke-themed.

Her kitchen is dotted with everything Coca-Cola including a cooler and refrigerator, pots, pans, trays, mugs, plates, glasses, tumblers, lunchboxes, cooking utensils, etc.

Of course, not to be forgotten is her bedroom: complete with Coca-Cola drapes, bed spreads, pillows, blankets, slippers, sneakers, pajamas, and an unlimited array of Coke stuff.

The special-edition Coca-Cola bottles from Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea and other countries depict the colors and the symbols of those nations. Coke bottles from Mexico were named after every state.

I wonder why our extremely creative and artistic Philippines has never had such things designed for Coke! After going through Ching’s Coca-Cola collection, I feel certain we can do better than what has been produced so far! Ching and her fellow Coca-Cola collectors are waiting eagerly for the next products to be launched.

Old habits die hard, as they say. Coca-Cola is one of them. It even comes in countless flavors now — try the Coca-Cola with ginger!

Apparently, there is no other product in the world that has been produced, reinvented, repackaged, commemorated, promoted, revered, celebrated and loved as much as Coca-Cola. “Kahit ano pang sabihin nila, sa Coke pa rin ako,” she declares.

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Email the author at nikkicoseteng2017@gmail.com or text her at +639974337154.