After the rain, these boys came out on the terrace to watch a rainbow. The place and the boys are anonymous. The place could be anywhere in the world, and the boys could be anyone from anywhere, looking up at the sky. It made a nice picture, so I took it.
The building carries the spirit of any 21st century building, in glass, aluminum, and cement. The boys are wearing standard world outfits — jeans, sneakers, t-shirts. They could be in Malaysia, Mexico, or even in Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
As it happens, these boys are Filipinos, and the mall is here in Dumaguete. And not so long ago, it sprouted like a mushroom from an empty field of trees and grass.
When I first came to Dumaguete, there was nothing much in this area but a bunch of small stores and one Petron gas station. It was just beyond the outskirts of the City.
If you were standing in the Petron station looking out across the street, all you would see were a few pedicabs on an almost- empty road, and behind that, a large field full of cows.
It was just a rural scene in the Visayas. No Teletech, no parking lots, no mall.
Some people might have preferred things to stay that way. Some may regret the loss of the “native” style of Dumaguete, replaced with glasses and steel. And anyone fighting traffic around the mall on a hot summer afternoon might well be sorry it was ever built.
But commercial development doesn’t come in “native” form. No builder here has ever even tried to develop such a style. It’s easier, and cheaper to take what’s given, in terms of style and layout, and what’s given is what’s seen in Mexico, and California, and Florida.
But as the identity of world’s cultures becomes erased, there is a definite gain in comfort for ordinary people to compensate. Now, anyone at all can shop inside a mall in many stores, have a snack, or just wander around in cool comfort.
In a hot country, that’s no small matter. Fifteen years ago in Dumaguete there was nowhere for teenagers to escape the heat but in run-down movie theatres.
Now, they can go to the mall, stay cool, and hang out with their friends inside, or go outside on the terrace, look at a rainbow, and hope for the future.
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Author’s email: john.stevenson299@gmail.com
