There was no need for rudeness….

Last saturday, my wife and I availed of the gift given to us recently.  Two-tickets for a day-trip to the historical island of Corregidor.  This was going to be my wife’s first trip to the island and I briefed her what to expect, the walking tours, the buffet, sceneries and some interesting anecdotes shared by the tour guides during my first visit in 2008.

I love history - so as you could imagine, I was excited to go back to Corregidor and reminisce how it was like for the Filipino and American soldiers.  I imagined the much loved General Douglas MacArthur escaping through the Japanese network of submarines to go to Australia. I imagined the President Manuel Quezon bravely inspiring the people in the same way that Churchill did for England.

But I was not prepared for what took place as we were riding the ferry.

The female steward welcomed us and shared some instructions regarding the tranvias that we were going to take.  She took careful note of giving us reminders how to be safe and which tranvias are for the English speaking guests (later on we realized that we had about 30 Japanese men and women in uniform, visiting Corregidor with us that day!)

Then the female steward presented one of the tour guides named Momet.  We liked her instantly. Her voice was warm and very modulated and she made sure that people were comfortable and that her voice could be heard. She enunciated her words clearly, something, my wife and I thoroughly miss from a lot of people, these days.

She started giving some details on the island of Corregidor… and how it was used to correct the documents of the ships before docking in Manila.

She mentioned about how the Spanish used it and how it played a pivotal role in maintaining the control of the Spain through this important seagate.  Her talk mentioned KKK ( Kataastaasang Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) and suddenly there was this older Filipino man from the back who raised his hand and with a loud voice asked “who were the leaders of that KKK?’ Immediately followed by “who were the founding members of KKK and when did they establish that?”

The barrage of questions threw Momet off-guard and she struggled with what she was going to say next.  At that point, I think that must have been the first time for her to have been rudely interrupted during her well-rehearsed spiel.  She looked around looking for some people who would answer.

I raised my hand but she could not see me right away… after a few awkward seconds, she saw me and she leaned toward my direction.  I was trying to give her some names… and the surrounding events that led to that.  I was telling her that the groundswell of dissatisfaction grew right after the GOMBURZA execution and then….the old man was shouting again and was waving the map in his hand “it is here!… the names of the people in the KKK are listed here. It is written on this map!”

He was clearly just testing if the tour guide knew the answer to his question.  He made her feel stupid.

Momet got her comeback when she said “thank you sir, I am not a historian, I am a tour guide.”  We all broke into cheers as we all hoped that the old man would just sit down and let Momet finish her talk.

We thought that would be the end of that. Unfortunately, he also boarded the same Tranvia 6 that my wife and I intentionally boarded because we saw Momet was going to be the tour guide.  Much to my chagrin, the old man sat behind us and started chatting with some of the chinese guests, that we could hardly hear what Momet was trying to explain.

Then I heard a “swiisshhh-pop!”  I turned to see what it was.  This older man just opened a can of beer!  This was going to be an interesting historical tour.  During one of the stops, I asked Momet why the old man was allowed to drink beer during the tour?  She just slowly nodded her head and said “yes sit, they allow it here…”

And I was thinking to myself “what in the world???!!!”  how can these people appreciate history when we go through the different batteries, magazines and other military spots when they were getting too drunk to appreciate the history of Corregidor?  Corregidor is not a tropical resort!  I wanted to be upset but I did not know who should be the one giving the policy on this.

When we reached the lighthouse – and it was almost noontime… there were four caucasian men drinking their SMB while going through our historically treasured place!  I wanted to tell them that when I went throught some of their historical places in the US like the Alamo in Texas, I did not drink any alcoholic beverage there!  That when we walked through the area where JFK was assasinated, I wasn’t a beer-toting tourist!  That when I went through the museums in Georgia where the civil war mementoes where housed at that time, I was not drinking any alcoholic beer!

I wanted to tell these people that they were ALL DRINKING IN PUBLIC!  And in all places, drinking in that place that is to this day, a symbol of valor, gallantry and awesome courage of the Filipino and American soldiers!

Whose bright idea was it? That we should allow beer as we are giving tours in our treasured historical spots??!!

Well, despite all that, I still managed to enjoy the tour with my wife.  We were about to enter the Pacific War Memorial building and I stopped my wife and said “let’s have a pic here…” I heard Momet behind us who said ‘Sir, let me take that picture for both of you.”

I approached her and she smiled as she tapped my shoulder and said “thanks for earlier…you are my savior…”  She was referring to my effort to help her answer the old man’s smart-aleck question during the ferry ride.

After the picture was taken, I shared her some of the historical insights I know after the GOMBURZA execution and then how in 1895, KKK was established and who were some of the names associated with that.  She was learning some of the associated names fast and I saw that she was really intent in learning these names for her next spiel when these details would come in handy.

Before we entered the Malinta tunnel, she shared about the last Japanese man who surrendered in the 70s.  I had something else to add to her spiel to make it more interesting but almost decided not to until my wife said “go tell her because it would help her..”

I shared with her about Onoda and how the original commanding officer of ONODA had to fly from Japan to the jungles of Lubang Island, to call him out for him to really believe that the war was over.  She thanked me for that info off we went to the Malinta tunnel.

It was a hot day but it was a beautiful day.  I was really glad to have been given that opportunity to tour Corregidor Island again.

Sadly, as we were about to board the ferry again… the man was shouting again over the year when the revolution and the Battle of Manila Bay took place between the Spanish and the americans.  We could not understand what his point was because he was shouting 1986, 1898!!!

Someone told him to stop shouting at Momet and he turned back, walked toward Momet and with a loud voice said “NO, I am not shouting at you!!”

This was the result of allowing alcoholic beverages during the conduct of the tour.

What I am going to say next did not sound like it could come from me.. but hey, I thought….”maybe we should just leave him here and let him swim for a couple of days back to Manila!”

It was overall still a beautiful tour.  And like anything in this life… there was no need for rudeness especially toward a tour-guide who was simply trying to make a living by pointing out historical highlights of Corregidor.