A R C A B A L A o r A R K A B A L A

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 When I saw tickets like these (at the photo with this blog) being issued by a city tax collector to vendors at the main marketplace in Dagupan City, I asked him: "Arkabala ba tawag niyan?"

He retorted in the negative. "Ticket ho ang tawag namin dito".

I'd asked later other collectors but I received the same English name of a ticket being issued daily to sellers in the same market.

The Spanish word of arkabala is "alcabala". It refers primarily to an old sales tax.

When my childhood friend Nelson Bandiola brought me through his picked up truck at the Kidapawan City's terminal last June 28 for me to avail for a 2 Pm van ride to Davao City so I can catch my 9 Pm Cebu Pacific flight to Clark in Angeles City, call of nature obliged me to look for a john.

"Didto sa piyak ang public c.r nila (The toilet is at the other side)," he told me in Ilonggo in a city where people mostly speak Cebuano.

"Singko (pesos) Nong (five pesos big brother), " a male, at his 30's, quipped while he ready to issue two tickets (at the photo) for me and Nelson.

"Unsa man ang tawag niyo kini, arkabala? (How you call this ticket -- arkabala?)" I posed in Cebuano.

"Oo, Sir". (Bisaya, by the way, don't use the courteous "opo".)

I became nostalgic about this innocous effin' arkabala as I saw them being issued by the taxmen to peddlers and vendors in my rustic town M'lang, Cotabato when I was growing up there after my family relocated from PMA, Baguio City to answer the peripatetic call of duty of my military Dad in the then war torn Mindanao.

"Nuff said as I confirmed that the ticket I saw here in Luzon was indeed arkabala among the Ilonggos and Cebuanos -- whose dialect are still sprinkled by Spanish words.

"Pila ang inyong Davao, Bai? (How much is the fare for Davao City, my friend)," I shouted at the backseat of the van as I watched the trunk where my trolley bag that contained my ten kilos of sweet pomelos was located.

"Doscientos cincuenta (P250)," the driver bellowed in Spanish.

***

Mediamen thought they are infallible -- to the peasants who sneaked to read my spur of the moments sentiments here -- hahaha! -- it means "incapable of making mistakes or being wrong.

But, susmariosep, here's a marquee columnist - who is already deceased after he got stroke allegedly pumping a Geisha, a then congressman told me -- describing op-ed writers as more than infabllible.

"I’m disappointed at not being able to take part in this vital enterprise. (I’d already canvassed the drug stores for "altitude sickness" pills or any possible medication. When you’re thousands of feet up in the Himalayas, many experience breathing difficulties.)

Well, one can’t be in two places at the same time. Not even those who preen themselves as . . . uh, demi-gods, like columnists".