AS SEEN ON TV
Of spiders, lizards and other critters
The so called “Gagamba Boys” are giving returning Overseas Filipino Workers an unwelcome welcome at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport these days. These low lives would literally jump on unsuspecting OFW’s at the NAIA parking area, and extort money or ask for Christmas gifts.
The monicker “Gagamba Boys” (which loosely translates to Spider Men?) is coined for a reason. These petty criminals believed to be living in shanties near the airport operate with Olympic grade agility. They would leap onto an open jeepney or van (usually hired by an OFW’s family or welcoming party) to ask for money or forcibly take bags and other belongings. The Christmas season beckons them to be this industrious.
A milder species of “Gagamba Boys” I’d like to call “Spider Kids” would swarm an OFW’s welcoming party right at the NAIA exit gate stopping the vehicle, and pestering its passengers as they insist on gifts and dole outs. And they will not stop until they get their fill.
Many Filipinos are increasingly desperate as evident in this breakdown of restrain and decency. Begging with humility no longer achieves for the mendicant, his desired results.
These seasonal arachnids loiter in the vicinity of the NAIA terminal and prey on unsuspecting arriving passengers, giving the Philippines another bad publicity right at its doorstep.
As if it’s not enough that inside our rickety international airport, critters and other life-sucking creatures already abound.
I’ve heard one too many horror stories of blood suckers at Customs casually leeching on OFW’s who don’t travel light. The old modus goes one small appliance, a cell phone or maybe an IPod in exchange for inspection-free arrival. The reluctant OFW eager to get home with his bags and boxes of imported life, indulges.
At the immigration gates, some parasites also lurk for an easy foreign buck. Some OFW’s even slip in a couple of dollars in their passports while lining before the immigration counter to save time (and maybe the embarrassment) a practice which encourages more bad practices of some of our customs and immigration employees. Subtle extortion has become so normal in airports that even ordinary terminal personnel such as janitors and security guards close in for the kill when they can.
Arriving from a short trip to Singapore no less than a NAIA janitor who probably mistook me for Singaporean (due to my “chinky eyes”) asked me for “Christmas gift” in painstakingly broken English (aided with hand signs for money) to which I replied curtly “Pilipino ako kumita na yan pare”.
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Has anyone seen a “Halo” recently?
I believe the last time I saw one was over a decade ago while covering a story near Lemery Iloilo. Our crew cab driver accidentally run over it while crossing the road.
He immediately got off the vehicle and picked up the dead monitor lizard which he said would be perfect with beer later. As far as I can remember, these monitor lizards were hunted down (on sight) cooked and feasted on.
I think the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should now enforce a ban on the hunting and eating of monitor lizards. This week I came across an article by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which has included the Panay Monitor Lizard (scientific name Varanus Mabitang) in its list of endangered species.
The Panay Monitor Lizard which is locally known as “Halo” is also driven to extinction by incessant logging in Panay’s mountains and land conversion, destroying its natural habitat.
The DENR must enforce stiffer penalties on hunters of the Panay Monitor Lizard alongside a massive information campaign especially in schools and communities to help unlearn the habit of having these lizards for snack.
The campaign must be as aggressive as the ban on the slaughter of sea turtles. In the last decade news media has aired numerous stories of individuals and communities releasing captured sea turtles into the wild, due to the unwavering campaign to save turtles.
I hope to see the same enthusiasm from the public with calls to preserve the Panay Monitor Lizard, whose eaters say, tastes like chicken.
If you really want something that tastes like chicken, then just go get chicken.
