a continuation...
So it was that I made plans to head up to Luzon and my sublet condo in Makati. Naturally Lovely, my new paramour, had expected that I would be spending New Years Eve with her. I quickly shut her down by claiming to have a long standing appointment at the Israeli Embassy in Makati, a municipality comprising part of the gargantuan urban sprawl known far and wide as "Metro Manila." Being a virgin kept Lovely from joining me on the trip (Thank G-D). Her father actually would have let her go since we are getting "married," but as a Barangay Captain (village chief)- or in the present at least, attempting to regain his position as village chief- meant that the behavior of all four of his unmarried daughters must be well beyond reproach...ergo, no Luzon.
The preceding provides the backstory for my New Years Eve busride from Manila to Angeles City, to meet Joysa for our hastily arranged "date" at her Aunt Gemma's home. I had hoped to gently let Joysa down at what we had planned to be a beautiful, but quiet holiday evening at the rooftop pool at Citiland De La Rosa, the sublet condo I keep in Makati. Going to Angeles City definitely threw me off kilter. Alcohol and family tension are never good together. As a foreigner everything I said and did would be held under a microscope and when I gave Joysa the old heave ho the family would be sure to see Joysa upset and at that point all bets were off.
On Mindanao I am always well armed with, at the very least, my Jericho 9MM sidearm. Usually I tote an AR15, an assault rifle (civilain version of the American Military's piece d'resistance, the M16). Off of Mindanao however, things are much different. Philippine Gun Laws actually do permit a Foreigner to posses a fully liscenced sidearm- IF one is willing and able to grease half a dozen greedy palms. The far simpler endeavour is to have one's Filipina wife obtain the requisite liscence. As long as she is with you, you can carry "her" sidearm although it is technically illegal. Only shotguns and sidearms are legal for civilians...or so the story goes. Roughly, every two years or so, the sitting President will launch a weapons amnesty programme that allows one to grandfather in semi and fully automatic assault rifles, with no limit as to how many.
The liscence is only for Possesion, not for Carry. Still, in Mindanao noone outside the largest cities is ever called on the carpet for carrying an assault rifle down the street. The result.is the heaviest concentration of weaponry in all of Southeast Asia, and one of the highest concentrations in the world. Of course there are also dozens of well armed paramilitaries and insurgent organisations as well and they also have recoiless rifles, mortars, hand, rifle, and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) into the mix for a pot pourri of death and destruction.
Travel north of Mindanao and it is a much different story. While there is, in selected areas, a fair amount of armed warfare attributed to the NPA (New People's Army, the Maoist insurgent organisation) and its myriad offshoots (chief among them the RPA, Revolutionary Proletariat Army, a Leninist clique), civilians do not openly carry weaponry. Therefore, when travelling north of Mindanao I almost always do so unarmed. The one exception to this being Cebu where Rizza's parents also have a house, and where her father Mario's family live. Of course I rarely travel to Cebu now because that is where Rizza absconded and where she remains, living with her lover. The rare times I do go to the island I avoid its capital, Cebu City, and relegate my visit to the adjoining municipalities of Compostela and Danao. The former is Mario's hometown and it is there, with his siblings (Rizza's aunts and uncles), that we drop our bags before heading to the latter town, Danao.
In my travels I have only ever found a single place that even approximates Danao. Peshawar, in Pakistan, is home to a famed bazaar, known in English, as the "Smugglers Bazaar." Actually, it sits just outside the city, directly on the border with Pakistan's Northwest Fronteir Province. It is part of another, much larger market actually within the city limits. Northwest Frontier Province is, and always has been, offlimits to foreigners. Although today the main justification is the Taliban Insurgency, centered there and in Waziristan Region, the province has always been wracked by mind numbing violence related to the Pathan, or, Pashtun Tribe, which aside from being the dominant ethnicity in neighbouring Afghanistan, also comprises the most powerful grouping in Northwest Province.
Smugglers Bazaar is seperated from the bazaar proper by a cast iron swinging boom and two modestly armed Pakistani soldiers. Entry can be obtained by a special permit issued by the local government. The permit has never been particularly easy to obtain even long before the Taliban reared its ignorant head. One must not only grease a multitude of palms but also pay for an armed squad of Pakiatani soldiers and an "official" driver, in addition to an "official" guide to accompany the intrepid visitor. A much simpler method is to just engage one of many local Pathan Tribesmen to "guide" your visit to the bazaar. When I visited in the mid-1990s this only set me back $10.00, in US Currency. Whose to say what it would cost today?
The most interesting thing for me was, naturally, the heroin. In small market stalls eager shope keepers would beguile you with samples of #2 (freebase) and #4 (hydrochloride), offering guaranteed delivery to a wide range of nations for a minimum purchase of one kilogramme. Opium and hashish are also plentiful. For purposes of my current entry though, I am really only concerned with the bazaar's weapons.
to be continued...
So it was that I made plans to head up to Luzon and my sublet condo in Makati. Naturally Lovely, my new paramour, had expected that I would be spending New Years Eve with her. I quickly shut her down by claiming to have a long standing appointment at the Israeli Embassy in Makati, a municipality comprising part of the gargantuan urban sprawl known far and wide as "Metro Manila." Being a virgin kept Lovely from joining me on the trip (Thank G-D). Her father actually would have let her go since we are getting "married," but as a Barangay Captain (village chief)- or in the present at least, attempting to regain his position as village chief- meant that the behavior of all four of his unmarried daughters must be well beyond reproach...ergo, no Luzon.
The preceding provides the backstory for my New Years Eve busride from Manila to Angeles City, to meet Joysa for our hastily arranged "date" at her Aunt Gemma's home. I had hoped to gently let Joysa down at what we had planned to be a beautiful, but quiet holiday evening at the rooftop pool at Citiland De La Rosa, the sublet condo I keep in Makati. Going to Angeles City definitely threw me off kilter. Alcohol and family tension are never good together. As a foreigner everything I said and did would be held under a microscope and when I gave Joysa the old heave ho the family would be sure to see Joysa upset and at that point all bets were off.
On Mindanao I am always well armed with, at the very least, my Jericho 9MM sidearm. Usually I tote an AR15, an assault rifle (civilain version of the American Military's piece d'resistance, the M16). Off of Mindanao however, things are much different. Philippine Gun Laws actually do permit a Foreigner to posses a fully liscenced sidearm- IF one is willing and able to grease half a dozen greedy palms. The far simpler endeavour is to have one's Filipina wife obtain the requisite liscence. As long as she is with you, you can carry "her" sidearm although it is technically illegal. Only shotguns and sidearms are legal for civilians...or so the story goes. Roughly, every two years or so, the sitting President will launch a weapons amnesty programme that allows one to grandfather in semi and fully automatic assault rifles, with no limit as to how many.
The liscence is only for Possesion, not for Carry. Still, in Mindanao noone outside the largest cities is ever called on the carpet for carrying an assault rifle down the street. The result.is the heaviest concentration of weaponry in all of Southeast Asia, and one of the highest concentrations in the world. Of course there are also dozens of well armed paramilitaries and insurgent organisations as well and they also have recoiless rifles, mortars, hand, rifle, and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) into the mix for a pot pourri of death and destruction.
Travel north of Mindanao and it is a much different story. While there is, in selected areas, a fair amount of armed warfare attributed to the NPA (New People's Army, the Maoist insurgent organisation) and its myriad offshoots (chief among them the RPA, Revolutionary Proletariat Army, a Leninist clique), civilians do not openly carry weaponry. Therefore, when travelling north of Mindanao I almost always do so unarmed. The one exception to this being Cebu where Rizza's parents also have a house, and where her father Mario's family live. Of course I rarely travel to Cebu now because that is where Rizza absconded and where she remains, living with her lover. The rare times I do go to the island I avoid its capital, Cebu City, and relegate my visit to the adjoining municipalities of Compostela and Danao. The former is Mario's hometown and it is there, with his siblings (Rizza's aunts and uncles), that we drop our bags before heading to the latter town, Danao.
In my travels I have only ever found a single place that even approximates Danao. Peshawar, in Pakistan, is home to a famed bazaar, known in English, as the "Smugglers Bazaar." Actually, it sits just outside the city, directly on the border with Pakistan's Northwest Fronteir Province. It is part of another, much larger market actually within the city limits. Northwest Frontier Province is, and always has been, offlimits to foreigners. Although today the main justification is the Taliban Insurgency, centered there and in Waziristan Region, the province has always been wracked by mind numbing violence related to the Pathan, or, Pashtun Tribe, which aside from being the dominant ethnicity in neighbouring Afghanistan, also comprises the most powerful grouping in Northwest Province.
Smugglers Bazaar is seperated from the bazaar proper by a cast iron swinging boom and two modestly armed Pakistani soldiers. Entry can be obtained by a special permit issued by the local government. The permit has never been particularly easy to obtain even long before the Taliban reared its ignorant head. One must not only grease a multitude of palms but also pay for an armed squad of Pakiatani soldiers and an "official" driver, in addition to an "official" guide to accompany the intrepid visitor. A much simpler method is to just engage one of many local Pathan Tribesmen to "guide" your visit to the bazaar. When I visited in the mid-1990s this only set me back $10.00, in US Currency. Whose to say what it would cost today?
The most interesting thing for me was, naturally, the heroin. In small market stalls eager shope keepers would beguile you with samples of #2 (freebase) and #4 (hydrochloride), offering guaranteed delivery to a wide range of nations for a minimum purchase of one kilogramme. Opium and hashish are also plentiful. For purposes of my current entry though, I am really only concerned with the bazaar's weapons.
to be continued...