CREDITABLE WORK
By: Iris P. Concepcion

It is 100% scorchingly humid in this quite sub-Saharan enclave in the middle, smacked portion of our uppermost island. But it rained in the afternoon, a balanced act of the unknown.

I wonder what it is in the Philippines that gave it its splendor and allure despite its seemingly endless dates with the ubiquitous. I could not pinpoint exactly the source of its topographical charm.

I think it is the replication of its residents' undying human spirit, like an abandoned oasis of sort to take care of its spiritual voraciousness amid the wide arrays of food nearby: lugawan, binalot, kwek kwek, siomai, fishballs.

One seeks God and is gifted with a sight of a stall of piping rice pooridge. This embodiment of criss-crossed exchange of the heavenly and the gastronomic can only be appreciated by the likes of myself who continue to tread on, heeding the words from Above, trodding the path of clarity despite the makeshift haze.

And you continue to ponder what he had exactly put there that men had disregarded sometimes.

If God were an urban planner, He could have revived that edifice across the main post office building in Manila, the Met Theater.

This is a very beautiful structure with great historical impact. The dramatic location of this area is made manifest more by the overlooking train rail above. It cuts a figure of architectural prominence when viewed from the road. Look at the Post Office building: it is immaculate and still looks virginal over the years. It is in perpetual glint like an unbroken thread of design from the past.

I wish this could be revived and rehabilitated for wandering artists to bunk in while creating, molding, sharing, devising, making alive the city that has its claim the true beauty from within.

Imagine when night creeps in and from along its halls and magnificent facade, a voice beams in angelic positivity like an overcast audio: it could melt the traffic in great, regalian bow.

Its inhabitants can imagine then for a while that this country, with all its splendor, has found its voice amid a resurrected seat of the arts.