“You can take a girl out of Valenzuela but you can never take Valenzuela out of the girl.” My brother and my best friend would always throw this line at me every time I’d say or do something they think is very tacky, or in local slang, very jologs. After all, Valenzuela, the place where I grew up, ranked second in a local tabloid’s survey of the Top Ten Most Jologs Cities in the Philippines a few years back. The Tullahan Bridge separates Valenzuela from Malabon, another jologs magnet, according to that tabloid. The first street from that bridge is called A Fernando and it’s where I spent the first seven years of my life. We have lived in six different houses all throughout our more than 20 years of residency in that old municipality but it is always our house in A. Fernando that ignites the deepest sense of nostalgia in me.
MORE ‘I LIVED HERE’ ESSAYS
– 97-C 4th St, New Manila, Quezon City by Noelle de Jesus
– 3268 Ramon Magsaysay Blvd, Sta Mesa, Manila by James Jao
– East Capitol Drive, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City by Maya Calica
– 62-A West Point St, Cubao, Quezon City by Ichi Batacan
– 28 San Ignacio St, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City by Cindy Karingal
I was able to take a photo of this old house a few years back, before it was demolished for better-looking rentals. It looks somewhat plebeian to me now, but when we were living there I never really thought we were poor. Our house was prettified by a thick growth of greens, from ornamentals like aloe vera and cactus to edibles such as bird’s eye chili and oregano. My father always cooked good food. We did our grocery at CVC in Caloocan every Sunday after attending mass at the Grace Park Parish and ate out regularly at Ever Gotesco in Monumento. Our family only lived in the lower half of this two-story house. It was a one-room flat, just about 50 square meters big. Yet we also had boarders and took in at least five relatives at a time.
The author (second from left) with her parents and older brother.
Our own toilet and bathroom was located outside the house along with our neighbors’ toilets. That area was always dark and moist and scary so my brother and I tried not to use it unless we needed to do some serious business. As kids, we were allowed to take a bath and pee at the back of the house instead, which was also our neighborhood’s common laundry area. Even I would describe that community as jologs. But it was also special. Our house was always full of relatives, neighbors, and clients of my mom’s Avon business and dress shop. Strangers easily became family friends or literally became part of the family by marriage to the throngs of cousins we took in as I was growing up. People remembered everyone’s birthday and someone was always there to help look after your kids.
The extended family living under one roof celebrating the author’s fifth birthday.
Everyday, I’d walk home after school fetched by a kind-hearted neighbor I called Nanay Suring, or her youngest daughter, Ate Jocelyn. As soon as I get home, off to the street I would go to play patintero or shato with my friends. Sometimes we would also go to Matadero, a former animal butchery, where we’d dig sweet potatoes off the ground. We would cook them in rusted tin cans and eat them with our dirty hands. I had playmates named Maricel and Kirinday and Zabeth, and neighbours called Bebe Kumpu (Baby Kung Fu) and Erning Butiki (Ernie the Lizard). We also had our resident siga (troublemaker), named Mario, who would sometimes run amok and scare the kids. Just the sound of his name would send us hiding. I only lived there for seven years but the dress shop stayed on a few of years more.
The author with her Valenzuela playmates.
I remembered pouring buckets of tears when we finally moved out, thinking that things were never going to be the same again. It was never the most comfortable house to live in, but I still think it was the happiest place our family has ever been in. Whenever I look back at my childhood days, I still go to this happy place. I feel grateful to have lived here. Deep in the heart of this girl, Valenzuela still occupies a very special spot and I’m afraid nothing can ever take its place.
Photos: Tina Gomez
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MORE ‘I LIVED HERE’ ESSAYS
– 97-C 4th St, New Manila, Quezon City by Noelle de Jesus
– 3268 Ramon Magsaysay Blvd, Sta Mesa, Manila by James Jao
– East Capitol Drive, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City by Maya Calica
– 62-A West Point St, Cubao, Quezon City by Ichi Batacan
– 28 San Ignacio St, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City by Cindy Karingal
