Tuesday, January 8, 2008: Town Mice and Country Mice	Return to Journal TOC >>
Since we’ll be traveling to Angeles City in the provinces today, Edwin has arranged to rent a small van. Renting a car in the Philippines generally means renting a driver as well; we go downstairs to meet Edwin and Jame the driver just after the worst of rush hour. This is the only day we’ll have a vehicle, so Ro has arranged to make several other hard-to-get-to stops before and after the Angeles trip, which will be a couple of hours away if driving conditions are good. Both sides of Ro’s family have prospered in the Philippines, with the conspicuous exception of her immediate ancestors. On the Nepomuceno side of the family, which we’ll be visiting today, the family story is that her grandfather entered the seminary as a young man, and only realized the priesthood wasn’t for him after the family wealth had been divided among his siblings. (Those siblings did help out as much as they could, and made sure his children were educated and so on, but Philippine traditions of obligation incurred with gifts received - known as utang na loob - tends to discourage requests for help.) I hadn’t realized just how prominent the Nepomucenos were in Angeles until today, when I found out about the mall named after them, the regional power company that they own, etc. First stop is in Pasig City, which is still considered part of Metro Manila. Ro’s Uncle Peter, who heads up the family power company, has his office there, near yet another giant mall. We’re quickly brought to see him by yellow-jacketed women, some of whom Ro knows - people tend to hang onto good jobs here, and there isn’t a lot of job-hopping. (Companies post notices in the business section of newspapers here when they’ve fired someone in a white-collar job, which is a deterrent to fraud I’m sure, but can’t make finding a new job very easy, either.) We have a delightful time in Uncle Peter’s office, talking about family reminiscences, books (he gives Ro a book about their family, A Cofradia of Two), alternative energy, and his own travels. He helps my quest to try every new kind of citrus fruit I can find here by giving us a couple of pomelo, which look a little like eggplants disguised in grapefruits’ clothing. His office also has an amazing view of the Pasig skyline, which adds an interesting perspective to the street-level views I’ve been getting of everything.
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