street vendors

i think a worldwide recession is in the works (hope it goes away soon, times are really hard), i don't know how to say it (i'm no economist! hehehe) but the bite is certainly felt everywhere. but look at these photos, i just took them this morning, and you'll realize that people certainly will make it despite the skyrocketing prices...

i saw this fresh buko (young coconut) vendor infront of Meralco's Bacoor branch (near the SM mall)

busyly arranging his goods (new clothes for sale at low prices), i saw this vendor at the street corner infront of Asiatrust Bank near SM Bacoor

this vendor sells rags he was hawking at EDSA near the LRT/MRT EDSA-Taft stations

this vendor was balancing some native candy products, like pastillas (made of carabao's milk and native fruits and some dried and candied banana chips, as well as candied peanuts)

one of the metro's favorite shopping districts (next to Divisoria), this portion of Baclaran is next to the Baclaran church. those stalls are there on a temporary lease. there are more stalls further near the LRT Baclaran station, a lot of them are airconditioned too. even the country's rich socialites buy there at Baclaran and Divisoria specially during holidays...

decent food

The bus I took to work this morning passed by the bus terminal at Baclaran. And as the bus waited for the conductor (who was paying for something at the MMDA depot) I saw a woman scrounging for something among the trash on the sidewalk. Scenes like that abound around the metro.

sorry for the blurred pics, typhoon Frank just passed Metro Manila when it was taken

Though I’ve seen people picking through garbage and I’ve even watched them on TV, I was not prepared for what I saw.

It just rained all over the metro and the nearby provinces (typhoon Frank had a visit) and the pavement is wet, so whatever trash there was were really rain soaked. I thought that the woman was looking for plastics that can be sold at junk shops or whatever that can be sold. I noticed that she was putting whatever she picked inside a transparent bag. But I just can’t see what the contents of her plastic bag was, because the bus’ window was a bit hazy. Then I saw her examine something...I recognized it as a chicken leg with a lot of meat still on the bone. The woman dropped it inside her plastic bag. I realized that the bag was where she kept the food she picked up among the trash...

here's the woman picking "something"

I was heartbroken...I was at a loss. I am like that everytime I see people who are in dire need and yet I can't do a thing.