Rockin' In the New Year Philippine Style

As popular an attraction as Eastwood City is, this venue outdid itself last night in drawing a huge crowd to take part in a safe and sane New year Eve celebration. And the best part of it is that my wife Lydia and I, along with our friends Barry and Elma (their own blog site, bjruth.com, is referenced in the sidebar of this blog site) had only to step outside our condo to join the festivities.

No New Years Eve celebration would be complete without a fireworks show. The one in Eastwood last night with a celestial backdrop of a full moon was spectacular. Best of all along with the live musical entertainment it was free of charge and long in duration. The tang of cordite from these dazzling pyrotechnics still hangs in air hours later as I begin to write this post.

As I mentioned, the area was teeming with people. In fact I have never seen in it so jam-packed and would guess the number of attendees ran well into the thousands--perhaps the largest turnout in the 10 year history of Eastwood City. The presence of a new mall certainly played a significant part in this phenomenon. But a bigger factor is that in the Philippines entire families from grandparents to infants (fixed or early bedtimes for kids do not seem to be a part of the culture) attend and stay late at these events. Perhaps it was this multi-generational presence even more than the security personnel that kept rowdiness and drunken misbehavior to a minimum. In fact, a G-rated atmosphere seemed to prevail throughout the evening.

2009 was marked by serious natural disasters including a terrible flood in Metro-Manila and by man-made horrors including the massacre of 57 innocent victims stemming from a political feud in the southern part of the country. Who can know whether the events in 2010 will be any better or worse? Will the national elections (scheduled for May and which include the office of the president) make a difference? Given the the history of the Philippines, probably not. Yet one can always hope that the change in leadership will set the Philippines on a new course or least show the people that there other options beyond wallowing in the mentality of fatalism and fiesta that has kept this nation from progressing and realizing its full potential.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY