JUST THREE WORDS

WHAT is your motto in life? It was a bonus 5-point question—so unexpected like a lightning at this time of the year, in my midterm exam for a civil law subject. But it was a breeze to answer it in not less than 50 words and having the extra points.

When was the last time I answered the same question? High school days, when I had to fill out slum books of my female classmates? Before I graduated in college, when the yearbook committee asked me about it?

It didn’t take me a minute to think what to write in the exam, because I have been consistent about it and live by this motto: NEVER GIVE UP.

Winston Churchill during the war had uttered these words in a speech before British students (some say “Never give in” were his exact words). Christopher Columbus and Thomas Alba Edison might have uttered these words also in their respective undertakings. I can’t imagine the world now without Columbus who never gave up during his voyage to the New World, what with the uncertainties of his destination, unfriendliness of the sea, and mutinies among his men. And what would the world be without inventors like Edison who persevered to make our life easier than before?

Never give up! Perhaps one of the most evocative mottos, and it has proven to have woven magic to people who take these three words to heart. For me, it has become like a mantra every time I am in a bind. For without it I would not have accomplished things and become the person I am now. My college education was filled with uncertainties and consistent combat against poverty. I had lots of rejections when, as a probinsyano and an inexperienced fresh grad, I applied for a job in the big city. And in pursuing my dream to buy a house with my hard-earned money, I was robbed thousands of pesos by a scheming real estate agent.

But did I give up? In those particular cases, NO. I finished college by supporting myself; I worked as a student assistant for a time and an underpaid farmhand during semestral breaks. I persisted in my job applications, until I was hired by a publishing company which up to this time is still providing me the work I need to earn a living. And I was able to acquire a house on mortgage from a new and legitimate broker (though I wasn’t able to recover my loss).

My father used to say to me, if you think you can do it, you can do it. I remember I was tempted to add: if you think you can’t do it, then forget it. But I realized early enough that this is wrong, because the resolve to do something must dwell first on the mind, that’s why there’s this mental conditioning: if you think... Now if you think and you believe it can be done, then you can do it, as what my father used to say. But if you lose, there’s always a second chance, and third, and so on.

But the best one that gives me the real push comes from the bible, thanks to a Born-Again Christian friend in college who first shared this verse to me: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Now this added a new dimension to the three-word motto “Never give up” as I say it now because a resolve that comes with it, is now hinged on a belief that I cannot fail because Someone’s up there to help me all the time.

There are times, however, that I wasn’t able to use the motto, along with my father’s words and my favorite verse, to my best advantage. Sometimes I falter, waver in my faith, and give up things for good reasons. And some, for bad reasons.

When did I give up? I can only think of a few. I gave up playing chess, though I have been good at it when I was younger, because I had been very emotional when I lost in a match; I gave up my post-grad studies midway to the course because I decided that I rather start a family of my own than embark on a new career; and I gave up a friendship because I chose the will and weal of a group rather than nurture a close relationship with this person.

But so far, one thing will never change about me. Not a chance would I give up working and dreaming for something better.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE... MALATE

BEFORE I became a resident, Malate was to me merely a passive host to rowdy bars and restaurants stretching into the nearby Ermita district. It seemed like a place reserved solely for people looking to chill out, hang out, and seek casual encounters.

During my first year in the metropolis in the early '90s, I only knew of the area through news reports about its famous mayor, Alfredo Lim. The former police chief turned city mayor—who later became a senator before returning to the mayoral seat—made headlines by padlocking bars and restaurants across the Malate-Ermita area. The city council at the time believed these establishments were havens for prostitution and lewd shows. Years later, the Supreme Court ruled that the mayor and his council had exceeded their authority by shutting down legitimate businesses. By then, however, many bar owners, entertainers, and patrons had already migrated to other nightlife districts in the metropolis.

Mayor Lito Atienza, who succeeded Lim, initiated a grand revitalization of Manila’s old districts, including Malate, sprucing up city squares and mini-plazas. New resto-bars and KTV joints—many of them Korean-owned—began to crop up. A diverse cluster of new businesses breathed life back into the Nakpil-Adriatico-Orosa stretch, an area just a few blocks south of Robinsons Place that had sat deserted during Lim's first term.

I first saw Malate up close when I started frequenting the area to visit my girlfriend. Her family lived in one of the remaining pre-war wooden houses along Remedios Street, just about 500 meters from Malate Church. It was 1996, three years after I had moved from Ilocos. At the time, I was working as a proofreader for a publishing house and renting a bed space in an old house in Quezon City.

That very same year, I married my girlfriend at Malate Church. From January 1997 until late 2001, when my family relocated to Bulacan, I was a proud resident of Barangay 697, Malate District. I registered to vote there a year later and have maintained my voter registration in that same barangay through every succeeding election up to this day.

Even though we now reside in Marilao, Bulacan, the old district of Malate will always be home to my family. My three children were all born at the nearby Philippine General Hospital in Ermita and baptized at Malate Church. When they were babies, we would bring them to the barangay health center near San Andres Market for their free medical checkups.

We still return to Malate every third Sunday of November to celebrate the feast day of its patron, Our Lady of Remedies. We go back whenever my wife or one of the kids falls ill and needs a checkup with their doctor in Singalong, or whenever my wife has important business to conduct in the city. Malate is our permanent anchor—a reliable stopover and a familiar watering hole.

Above all, the one event that gravitates our family back to Malate is our annual New Year’s Eve celebration. It serves as the grand reunion for the Gundran clan, bringing together my mother-in-law, my wife’s brothers and sisters, their children, in-laws, and grandchildren. We welcome the New Year watching fireworks just outside the front gate on Remedios Street, later feasting on spaghetti, ham, and pork or hotdog barbecue. Remarkably, we exchange our holiday gifts on the 31st of December rather than on Christmas Day.

For the past twelve years, with the sole exception of 1999 when we visited my hometown in Ilocos Sur, I have spent every New Year’s Eve in Malate. The first day of the year is traditionally spent strolling and taking family pictures along the Manila Baywalk on Roxas Boulevard. Other times, we attend Mass at Malate Church, visit the Manila Zoo, play arcade games at Harrison Plaza or Robinsons Place, or watch our children run around the open spaces of Remedios Circle and the Paraiso ng Batang Maynila park, sharing the space with local street kids playing half-naked in the sun.

Whenever the holiday season wraps up and we leave for Bulacan, we carry the comforting certainty that we will be back soon. We will return to old Malate to be with family, to revisit my wife’s birthplace, and to walk the streets of the city she first called home. No matter where life takes us or how far we drift, we always find our way back to Malate. There truly is no place like this district, a place I have happily considered my home for the past 12 years.

San Andres market fruit stands & Paraiso ng Batang Maynila


Remedios Circle & Remedios St. front of Royal Plaza


Malate Church & Rajah Sulayman Park


Manila Baywalk fronting Malate Church & Adriatico St.