The lives of fishball vendors at UP Diliman

AT THE FOOT OF VINZONS HALL at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, an amiable voice can be heard calling out to passers-by. "Ano sa inyo, ate, kuya?" inquires Ara Miranda, 37, from her food kiosk overlooking the Sunken Garden.

A mother to a nine-year-old daughter, Ara makes a living by providing UP students affordable snacks: from chili-mansi pancit canton to classic tusok-tusok street foods like fishball and kwek-kwek. She also sells mineral water and bottled drinks for joggers and thirsty students.

The business is owned by her 60-year-old mom, who has since retired from manning the stall and now employs her and some of her siblings to serve as everyday personnel.

From her home in Caloocan City, Ara rises early to open shop at 6 a.m. The morning shift is not as busy, so she can manage attending to the customers all by herself.

As it nears noon, students start to approach and place orders for quick snacks. Miranda's practiced hands work efficiently as she prepares their food one by one: cooking pancit canton in the readied pot on the stove, frying a stick of fish balls in the pan, searching for an ice-cold drink at the bottom of the cooler.

She has been doing this for 12 years. Her husband is currently out of work, so she needs to support their little family with the P250 she earns per day. She grew up the same way—her own parents raised 11 children, all of whom finished college, with the food kiosk as their source of livelihood.

At 11 a.m., her sister Janet, 33, arrives. The taxi waits while Janet fetches her fare from the morning sales. She then wastes no time getting to work, putting new drinks at the bottom of the cooler and placing more ice blocks. Every once in a while, she would be interrupted in her task with a customer purchasing electronic load.

By lunch hour, the area grows a lot busier with students finishing their morning classes and commuters alighting from jeepneys. Miranda, who graduated with a degree in business administration, does not have to call out that much anymore with customers coming one after another.

"Maganda ang kitaan dito sa UP," she says. "May mga customer nga minsan na nagtatanong kung paano kumuha  ng puwesto."

Miranda admits she tried looking for other jobs several times before, but she ends up returning to UP anyway.

"At least dito walang amo. 'Pag sa iba nangangamuhan ka e," she explains. She keeps hope, however, that she will one day be able to retire from manning the food kiosk.

"'Di rin naman kami habangbuhay dito," she says.

For now, though, she enjoys the laid-back attitude of the UP community. She looks forward to celebrating Christmas with the Lantern Parade and appreciates the concern of the students for the plight of the manininda.

"Mababait sila. Tinutulungan nila kaming mga mahihirap," Miranda says, recalling the rallies staged by activists whenever there is a threat to the livelihood of UP vendors.

YARDS AWAY FROM THE MIRANDAS' FOOD KIOSK, Richard Vergara, 29, also mans a pancit canton stall in front of the Pantranco jeepney stop.

He has been working as a vendor in UP for 13 years now—eight years at the Math building along CP Garcia Avenue, two years at the Electrical and Electronics building in the nearby science complex, and now three years in front of Vinzons Hall.

He earns P4,000 a month in addition to board, lodging, and allowances, a good enough salary for a single man.

Vergara, who was 16 when a friend recruited him to man food kiosks, studied as an electrician in vocational school and used to work as a merchandiser and a poultry employee. Staying in UP, though, appealed to him more.

"Kung ang trabaho mo sa Cubao, syempre pasamahe pa 'yun, bawas pa sa suweldo," said the vendor, who resides near Balay Kalinaw and only has to walk to open shop every day.

Vergara does not have a weekly day off except the occasional times he gets permission from his employer. He gets a vacation once a year during the New Year's celebration, the only lull time in the street food business with joggers taking a break from exercising to eat good food during Media Noche.

Despite the lack of rest, he finds his job of serving food to UP students daily as a noble way of giving back to scholars of the nation.

"Masaya, kasi 'yung mga estudyante rin ang tumutulong sa amin kapag may problema," he says. - JST/BM, GMA News