Partying--Davao Style (2007 article)

Published BUGS Newspaper, 2007

Here’s the deal. You are an average student. You enjoy partying more than school (duh!). You know Davao like the back of your hand. In a sense, you are me.

You’re drowning in projects, and you’re stressed like shit. You need to enjoy. Tonight, just like every other Saturday night, you’ve set out a plan. You have gathered all your closest friends and you’ve donned your fabulous gimmick outfit and you’re ready to live it up. This is your itinerary.

First, you go to the Venue Compound-- the safe haven for the “older” crowd. You choose to visit the Venue Compound first because it’s pretty peaceful, they open earlier than other party places and there are a lot of interesting establishments (KTV Bars, Restos, Coffee shops etc) in the area. You enjoy a scrumptious Korean Meal at Ab Gu Jung and then get your fill of local comedy at Laugh Tough while drinking the cheapest beer in town at twenty pesos a bottle. You decide to pass on the Venue bar, a huge two story building with an in-house coffee shop, a massive dance floor and a live band. The Venue bar used to be the biggest in the country, but now that your friends’ parents are regulars, you only visit the bar when Manila-based artists hold concerts there.

You then transfer to Bacbac at F. Torres Street. You order some ice-cold, brain-freeze inducing, frost-encrusted frozen beer. You urge your friends who haven’t tried it to give it a taste. The beer in itself is an experience. You remind your self that this is the only way to drink beer. You enjoy seeing all your other friends and schoolmates here. Like you, they prefer to get their fill of booze and grilled fare here before moving to the Wheels and More Drive Compound.

When you get to Wheels and More Drive you suddenly feel like you’re under-dressed. You shrug it off. You remind yourself that Davaoenos just don’t care. You survey the bars. You choose from Brugger’s Café (they serve great pizzas), Hypnotiq (posh interiors and a billiard table) and Urban Club (the current crowd favorite).

You decide to go to Urban Club. You pay a hundred bucks to get in. They give you a stub for two free drinks. You take notice of the music. The DJ is serving up great music tonight, as always. You approach the bar to claim your drinks. You appreciate the crowd of students and yuppies. You realize this is where all of gorgeous Davao has been hiding. The DJ has stopped mixing some tunes. There is now a live band that plays house music. They are great. You go out to get some air and again scout the premises. Yes. This is where all the cool people go.

You check the time and realize it is three in the morning. You transfer to Rizal Promenade and get inside 183. They have stopped asking for an entrance fee since it is beyond three in the morning. You step inside and realize the whole bar has transformed into a dance floor. Someone grabs your ass from behind. You turn around and remember that this is the favorite cruising spot among the gay crowd. Also, there are a lot of foreigners and non-locals. You dance a little until you realize you are too sleepy. You regret not hooking up with that cutie in Urban Club.

As you lay in bed (after puking your guts out) you plan out next week’s schedule. You are too drunk to function. You turn the television off. You remember you have a project due on Monday. This Saturday was uneventful. You have to check out some other bar next week. You still regret not hooking up with that cutie in Urban Club.

Has The Pinoy Become Too Wild?

Let’s talk about sex.

It used to be; when somebody mentioned this word people would get shocked… then cold silence would fill the room.

Nowadays, it’s as common as pornography along the city streets. Which leads me to ask: “has the Pinoy become too wild?”

Last night, I was strolling in the mall when I chanced upon a man who was trying to buy a magazine. Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead while he was trying to explain to the saleslady what he wanted to purchase. “Eyf-ech-em” he said. “Huh? What do you want to buy?” “Eyf-ech-em” he repeated, as if the saleslady should have known what he meant. “Ah! FHM! The saleslady shouted.” Upon hearing that, everybody turned his or her head to see whom this perverted person was. The next thing I knew, he was pretending to be criticizing the magazine.

Obviously, he was embarrassed…and rightfully so!

How would you expect a man who couldn’t even pronounce three letters to actually read a magazine?

Then I decided to relax…and see a movie. Out of the six titles, I had chosen to watch “Unfaithful”. While waiting in line, I saw a female friend and invited her to watch the movie with me. She declined and even felt insulted.

At first I thought she hated me, or was afraid that I’d do something with her while inside the cinema, so she explained to me that she was just too innocent to watch an R-18 flick. Disappointed, I decided to call my personal pilot to fetch me. Unfortunately, I had no cell phone load, so I borrowed her phone.

While I was calling my pilot, a sex video popped out of her phone’s screen. My friend pulled her phone away from me but embarrassedly admitted that she had 100,734 sex videos stored in her phone. I was appalled! She was too innocent to watch unfaithful, but kept 100,734 sex videos in her phone? No wonder all her fingers were red and swollen...

your fingers would get swollen too, if you had to scroll down 100,734 entries, right?

I also know of a friend who frequents whorehouses, but is too shy to tell a pharmacist that he needs condoms; a lady who pretends to be a virgin to seem innocent; and a cousin who has never had sex with her boyfriend, but has enjoyed the anonymity of one-night stands.

What I’m trying to say is, Filipinos want to seem innocent when every one of us has watched pornography, read an adult magazine, or has done something sexual. We want to sustain that conservative persona, while having secret sexual lives. However YOU can do something about it.

You can decide to be yourself and present yourself in all your erotic glory, or live a prudish life. You can decide to project a virginal image, or actually BE that image. You can decide to courageously share with us the beauty of your libido, or keep it to yourself. You can decide. YOU can decide.

It doesn’t matter what decision you make, or if you’re wild or not, just be yourself and have the courage to show everyone who you truly are.

confession #19

Maybe in time, the Filipino society, would muster enough courage to show the world that indeed the Pinoy has become too wild…

BUT this time be damn proud about it.