If Muntinlupa has the smartest homeless people in the country, then Baguio has the friendliest. It makes sense: After all, bums in Baguio have the good fortune of being homeless in a cold and cheap paradise. Just the other day when Ramon and I were at Burnham Park, a homeless guy came walking down, trudged onto the benches, plopped his house-bag down and just laid there in the relaxing mist of air.
The only problem with this laid-back homeless mentality is that it’s not the best attitude for begging for money. In Muntinlupa, homeless people will sing, tell you a story, make pretend to be crippled, put a cat in a baby stroller – anything to garner a sympathetic peso. They’re always thinking of entrepreneurial ways to get by, like collecting cans for recycling or robbing other bums while they sleep.
In Baguio? Not really that much. I passed a homeless guy and he just gave me a warm "hello". He didn't ask for change or shove a baby right down my throat hoping that I'd feel pity. Now, I'm not really sure if he just forgot to beg or if he was a very poorly dressed and very poorly bathed rich man, but either way it was both refreshing and disconcerting - mostly for the homeless people here in the South of Manila. The poor down here, it seems that they're working so hard to get by with all those gimmicks. And those in Baguio are enjoying what seems like a homeless paradise.
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