Remembering Carbon

When I was a young lass, my dad would bring me to the Carbon Public Market. We would wait for a tartanilla by V. Rama Avenue and paid coachman a few pesos. I loved the horse ride, but the stench in Carbon made it hard to forget my childhood memories there. It was in Carbon when I first saw how meat was sold in a wet market. I was fascinated at the same time but had the urge to pull at my dad so we would go home. The trip downtown wouldn’t be complete without dropping by the electronics store before riding the tartanilla back home.

During my high school years, I and my friends would often call our trips to Carbon "escapades" because we enjoyed so much getting many bags of goodies for a few hundred pesos saved up. We didn't just go there for vegetables and fruits, but for accessories and ready-to-wear clothes in nearby Manalili Street. We'd grab banana fritters by the corner of that street, paired with buko juice. It was fun and at the same time exhausting.

My work as a TV reporter led me to Carbon whenever I toiled the graveyard shift and had no other news items that night. Before the cock crowed, my cameraman and I would head there to check the prices of fish, poultry, and other basic goods. That's where I met several "sukis" who gave me a decent discount especially if I buy in bulk.

When COVID came, the market became one of the highlights during the days before Holy Week. The infamous "binignit" photos led everyone to point at it as the reason for the spike in cases. I frequented my visits there to talk to the barangay and city personnel manning the market to prevent COVID-19 transmission. It was here too where I met a lot of small-time vendors who were making ends meet with their unsold goods. I saw wilting vegetables and rotten fruits that were already of no value. They were already willing to give it away or sell it at the lowest price just so they could have something to eat. Those were the worst days of Carbon, I guess.

Now that it is undergoing a facelift, I see nothing bad about that. It's just that the timing is in line with the world's efforts to focus on vaccines. Had we thought of a better plan on what to do with the money, a lot of lives would have been saved and the economy would regain its energy again. But then again, who are we to demand. Just saying.

I would miss the old Carbon, but not the traffic that jumbles up once or twice a day. I miss the many ates and kuyas I made as friends, but not the stench.