A student internet shop in Borongan saves my beating a deadline
Entertainment

A student internet shop in Borongan saves my beating a deadline

Jul 9, 2022, 4:32 AM
Boy Villasanta

Boy Villasanta

Columnist

In the afternoon of a recent Wednesday I was frantic about beating a deadline for OpinYon Laguna and 08 Entertainment.

Barangay Cabay in Balangkayan town in Eastern Samar where I stayed with the Gallego family had a poor, intermittent internet connection which eventually dropped after a few minutes.

"Naku, ganito talaga rito sa Balangkayan at dito sa barangay namin. Kung walang internet, mahina ang signal, kailangang nasa labas ka ng bahay. E, paano kung nag-iisa ako at ang misis ko, nagtitinda sa ibaba, nagluluto ako at kailangan din na isingit mo ang pagtawag o pag-text man lang, wala (Oh! It's like here in Balangkayan and here in our barangay. If there's no internet or there's a weak signal I have to go out of the house. What if I'm alone and cooking and my wife is tending to our store downstairs and I have to squeeze in a call or a text, nothing happens)," sighed Romy Gallego, a businessman working from home.

At the time, the whole Balangkayan town and its neighboring coastal communities like Llorente and May Dolong were powerless, therefore, no internet.

I had to think of an alternative if not available resources.

Romy's friends suggested that I try Borongan City which is still a far-off place, more or less thirty kilometers, from Balangkayan.

There's no way out except to go and look for an internet shop in Philippine entertainment personalities Boy Abunda and Aster Amoyo city.

On a motorbike, I hitchhiked with the kind-hearted mother and daughter Elma and Bea Amida to Borongan.

As a public cyber shop isn't a business craze anymore, internet hubs come as scarce as anything.

Still, as a city, Borongan has a few existing digital shops.

The first try was a fully-booked online space near a park so we had to look for another through the courtesy of the former's officer-in-charge.

This time around, it was open and accommodating but there were many students milling around and waiting for their required school paper's typing/ printing.

We persisted only to find some difficulties in logging into my Google and email accounts.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon and my bus ride back to Manila was at eight in the evening. Going back to Cabay would take at least half an hour.

Initially, I did the writing unmindful of a rigid opening of my electronic mails.

At least, the man at the counter was generous enough of his IT support as he facilitated and troubleshot my online problems. Stories were successfully sent to OpinYon.

It was past six when we got off the mess.

Still, another thirty-or-so-minute motor ride back to the Gallegos.

At seven thirty, I was consumed with my dinner which I failed to savor the delicious bamboo shoot saute of Romy's wife Baying.

After a quick bite, I hastily ran down Romy's rocky flight of stairs.

A little past eight, the bus halted in front of his house and I jumped in my way to Manila but still the telecom signal was at its weakest.


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