Ginagmay'ng Patigayon

Some 20 years ago, "Ginagmayng Patigayon" (Small Business) capped off Channel 3's (used to be a government-owned TV station in Cebu) nightly news. I was especially drawn to this segment for everything else it offered -- from the choice of background music (light, rustic and provincial) to the content to the natural humor of veteran host Sam Costanilla. 

Ginagmay'ng Patigayon roams around the city to interview owners of small businesses. Fruit vendors, newsboys, shoe-shiners and just about any man and woman on the street so long as they are stuffed with anything to sell be they crystal balls or erection herbs. The interview encapsulates the experience of the street tradesmen - their gains and pains, the fun and the blues, the trials and triumph and many other surprises as they struggle to survive the day. The interview then rinses off with a sense of hope and faith in the future.                      

In a personal attempt to relive and clone the Ginagmay'ng Patigayon moments, I managed to interview a couple of people on the country's oldest street, Colon to make this happen. Admittedly, the blabber that I have always been, talking to strangers is like second-nature to me so it wasn't too bad or hard at all. Of course, I am not like Sam who can pounce a good laugh the moment he interviews people. I am more particularly nosy about what's happening around the area, the who's who, and the shortcuts to find the best deal. Also, aside the wide difference between me and Sam, there's also a stark difference between what people have to say about their livelihood 20 years then and 20 years hence.

Benny, a vaciador, relies on his bike-cum-grinder to sharpen salon and barber tools for thirty years on the streets of Colon. "Before, there were just two or three of us in this business now, there are many of us. I don't understand why big companies are also interested in our business. We are just small time and they compete with us while others sell disposable blades. I am not happy with what's going on. I don't think there's a future for the vaciadors anymore." according to Benny.

Romy, 63, an ID photographer who used to own an instant photo machine is devastated with the onslaught of digital cameras. "I spent half my retirement pay on that machine. But I couldn't do anything. I now have to pay someone to canvass customers for me. The good days are gone. I don't even think I can pass this business to them, because it's no good because everyone now owns a camera these days. But all my children are settled. I'm just doing this for myself because I'm used to this for 40 years now."

I am not particularly concerned about whether or not Romy or Benny is going to lose their trade sometime in the future. In fact, the reality that exists in both large and small businesses is but just the same -- that some businesses will die naturally as they are also overtaken by new technology and competition.

But what deeply intrigues me is why Romy and Benny stayed as the same vaciador and photographer that they have always been. Why there are still many Romies and Bennies in the streets of Colon or any other busy street for that matter who remained that way as if they were destined to be forever glued without the slightest inch of improvement or progress in spite the years spent on their trade.

If the nature of Ginagmay’ng Patigayon we have today is fated to fall out or simply stagnate, then we will never come to see the day when another generation of Romies and Bennies come to enjoy the benefits Dinagkong Patigayon. 

Our business books tell us that for corporations to thrive in the changing conditions, we must be resilient enough to change our business paradigms. But how many of us have come to the realization that we also need to help change the paradigms of small entrepreneurs and how important they are also to the economy?

I hope that the time will come that we will mind the business of others so that we afford them the chance to grow their business as we do with ours.    

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