Manila
Feast of the Nazarene, the air was cool and crisp. It was the second week of January 1997. Thousands of people gathered on the street during the parade of the Black Nazarene. Amidst the coolness of the weather, everybody’s sweating due to the heavy crowd. Some are praying, crying, shouting and some even fainted.
In one of the houses in a small alley in San Andres, on the second floor, one could hear the moaning and panting of two people in the middle of their lovemaking. The woman was making inaudible words telling him how good he is. Sabel, 38, and Michael, 23 years old. Aunt Sabel, as Michael fondly calls her when he was young was his mom’s friend and is considered the fantasy of most men in their area. She owns a small store while her husband, Tony, works in the Municipal Hall of Metro Manila as a security guard. She has two teenage daughters. Sabel and Micheal’s body were so overcome with passion they were oblivious of their surroundings. Suddenly, Oliver, Mike’s childhood friend shouted that Sabel’s husband is coming. Micheal jumped out of the window only to find Tony face to face. He was holding a baton and was about strike Mike on the head when he heard a click behind him. Oliver was holding a revolver. He was aiming it to Tony’s head while Mike started his motor and sped off. Mike thanked his friends for covering for him while Tony was cursing.
Michael Benedicto, young, handsome and notorious with women. He was born and grew up in Punta, Santa Ana Manila but moved to Benavidez Binondo, the Chinatown of Manila a year after his father died when he was two years old. His mom's ancestral home in Binondo was big and old. It was a three-story house made of Tiesa wood and Mahogany. It has many rooms and once belonged to his grandparents on his mothers’ side. His mother is half Chinese and his Chinese grandfather once used this house as a brothel and a gambling place. When her mother’s parents died, the children abandoned the place and had their own lives. Only Michael’s family came back to this house. His mother had the rooms rented at an affordable price. It was usually occupied because it is cheap and most people who stayed here were transient. Some of them had odd jobs.
Michael’s father was hailed in Iloilo city, a good-natured and hardworking man. He’s a mestizo with Spanish ancestry. He was once a seminarian in one of the congregations in Santa Cruz Manila when he was smitten by the beautiful and sweet Esmeralda. They were young and in love and so in 1970, they eloped. Agnes was born in 1971, Esther in 1972, and Michael in 1974. Life was doing fine. The young couple was able to live a modest life in Sta. Ana Manila. Nestor worked in Asahi Manufacturing Company as Production Head while Esmeralda sells native delicacies like rice cakes.
They were happy until Nestor died of a heart attack. It was so sudden nobody was prepared for it. Michael was barely walking at that time and his two older sisters were too young then as well. His mother was in grief for one year until she decided to sell their house in Santa Ana and move to Binondo. The Benedicto children grew up well with the help of their aunt Victoria, Esmeralda’s younger sister who was then a teenager. She loves Michael so much and he adores her. Wherever Aunt Victoria goes, he’s with her. The time came when he has to undergo circumcision and his mom wanted to accompany him but he refused. He only wanted his aunt Victoria. When he turned eleven years old, a man came to their house and talked to his mom. He was asking Victoria’s hand in marriage. Young Michael didn’t understand anything about it until his aunt had to move out of their house. He felt abandoned.
Priesthood is not a very enticing vocation for young Mike. He’d rather go with his friends and play pool, or smoke cigars and once in a while, dope. Nevertheless, he is a caring brother and son to his mother. He was able to finish High School but didn’t go to college. He was not very fascinated with school so he accepted odd jobs like selling newspapers, run errands, help at stores, and sell things. Binondo is a big town where everything sells as long as it has value. He loves making money a lot and older women. At night he used to eavesdrop on some of their tenants and watch them undress. But he’s most fascinated with married women especially single mothers. There’s something in them that enamors him. It transcends from his manhood to his soul. Maybe it’s their vulnerability, the nurturing, or breastfeeding. Breasts, the mere thought of it made his loins throb. He could feel arousal growing inside his pants. At 13, all he could think of were worldly things and how he could get laid.
