MORE FEEDBACKS ( From Ben Soloria )

My nephew got back from the PI last night. He brought back with him. among other things, a CD of the wake and funeral of my brother-in-law (his father) who passed away June 30 and was laid to rest on July 9. That CD and his oral report of his trip made me realize what an enormous change had taken place in that little town which I thought was a sleepy town when I was there. Can you believe that there is now a beer house and a hospital (or hospatay) in Dupac, my once upon-a-time hillbilly place? And a highway now connects Dupac to Sta. Maria. The highway is connected to that little known feeder road by Alex Cariaga's house (if you can still figure out your bearings in that part of town.)

But let me go back to the CD. It totally shocked me how much capitalism had flourished in that town. Remember Funeraria Mercado? They used to have that old-fashioned funeral carriage. But not anymore. The hearst used to bring my brother-in-law from our house in Dupac to the church was a Lincoln and then, from the church to Heaven's Gate Memorial Park, they used a Mercedes Benz. I couldn't believe my eyes. And the hearst looked like it has gilded windows. I said, that's all out competition.They have uniformed attendants and everything they used for the service are all US standard high tech. Even the flowers were changed everyday during the entire 9 days.

Yeah, they kept him for nine days against MY objections. You know the superstition is. You are not supposed to bury the dead on the same day he died, like, he passed away on a Thursday, so he couldn't be buried on a Thursday nor on a Friday. So they had to wait till Saturday. Well, anyway, the other thing that was just outrageous from that CD was that, on the last night of his wake, Funeraria Mercado brought to the house entertainers from Tayug - two singers, two back-up dancers and a keyboard player. They even had audience participation. So the wake turned out like a musical extravaganza which lasted until 2:00 AM. I had to fast forward the CD because I got tired looking at the girls dancing and singing non-stop. Those girls can sing, though. My nephew said it's all part of the package deal complete with a marching band from San Jose, Nueva Ecija. And it's so cheap. The whole deal cost over a thousand dollars (which is nothing compared to the cost of funeral services in the US.) Mercado paid the singers one-thousand pesos each and the dancers and thekeyboard player, 500pesos each. The church looked great on the screen. Again, I saw Juanita Orpiano involved in the church. The choir also is high-tech now. They have the latest entertainment system. I think I should go home and savor a new kind of life in my own native little town.