The “habal habal” philosophy
These last few months, I have been around the country a lot, giving management and law seminars, as well as facilitating HR and labor relations workshops for private companies, universities, and institutions. I had been in Laoag, Vigan, La Union, Baguio, and Pangasinan. I have seen the whole country both in the countryside and in the metropolitan centers. I went to Legaspi and Tanay, in Laguna, Batangas, and Bulacan, Tarlac, Clark, Pampanga, Subic, and Masinloc in Zambales. In the Visayas, aside from Cebu, I went to Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, and Tacloban. In Mindanao, I lectured in Cagayan de Oro, Ozamis, Iligan, Surigao, and Agusan, Davao, Gensan, and Saranggani.
In all these places, it is not the lectures that gave me a strange feeling of realization. It is not even the men and women who troop to my learning sessions. It is rather these ubiquitous phenomenon in the countryside called the '' habal habal,'' a unique system that has been invented by simple folks who refuse to surrender in the face of necessity. They are the creative, never-say-die type of simple but practical folks who stand up to the challenges in the face of rough terrains and ''luxurious'' (the vehicles make ''lukso'' and ''lukso" ) inferior quality of roads pathways. They are the men and women who stand up to meet the challenges of life and of living and livelihood.
The creative genius of simple rural folks and the daring stance of men and women who patronize these ''habal habal'' motorcycles have never ceased to amaze me. It is an act of daring for female public school teachers to cling to the body of the driver to make sure they are not thrown into the ravines, while the vehicle try to ''navigate'' along the small streams of mud and polluted waters. It is daring because the constant closeness and anatomical frictions between two human bodies may trigger an ultimate spark of concubinage and adultery between the driver and the rider. But both the driver and the rider are not perturbed nor pushed to fear.
The word ''habal habal'', of course, is the dialect for human or animal copulation. But sex is a remote motivation for teachers who are living in the valleys but are assigned on top of the mountains. They just want to come to class on time and bring education into the hinterlands. The driver just wants to earn a few pesos to support a growing family. This rather daring, if dangerous, means of livelihood may be his only option in trying to make both ends meet. Thus, he puts himself in constant danger, not only of falling into the ravine but also of falling into a mortal sin every single day. But he never say die. Because he has a goal every single day like the teacher.
Whenever I see a ''habal habal'' driver and his riders, I feel somehow inspired by the boldness by which the simplest and humblest among us continue to face life without surrender. Storms and rains and floods may inundate our world, but the ''habal habal'' paradigm continues to push us to persevere, to persist, to patiently and boldly confront the odds along the way, and drive on, braving ravines and the imminence of mortal sins. I will always tell my students that indeed life is worth daring for and driving on. No matter what the obstacles, the dangers or the odds. I think I have discovered one of the secrets of life. And I shall tell all my students from Vigan to Gensan, from Subic to Surigao.
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