No public transportation, no problem. | Contributed photo.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—During the time when automobiles were still not available, the public banked on animals such as horses as means of transportation.
And even with the advent of automobiles, horses remained on the streets and continued to ferry passengers through tartanillas, also known as calesas in Filipino, which are a two-wheeled carriages drawn by a single horse.
But the numbers of horses on the streets diminished as years passed, and so did tartanillas.
Read: Tartanilla Cebu’s fading chariots
So when a netizen saw men riding horses in downtown Cebu City, it gave him a glimpse of the past, a scene that reminded him of his younger years when horses ruled the streets.
Ronald Pabuaya Jr, 36, a welder, was on his way to do some errands when he ran into these four men riding their horses along Leon Kilat Street on Saturday, May 23, 2020.
“Na amaze ko nag tan-aw nila unya nalipay kay naka hindomdom pako saunang panahon nga mag sakay sab kog kabayo padung sa skwelahan,” he said.
(I was really amazed looking at them and happy because I got to remember the time when I’d ride a horse to take me to school.)
Pabuaya added that it was such a surprise to be seeing this kind of mode of transportation to be used in a time of a pandemic.
With this, he decided to take a photo of the scene and shared it in his social media account. As of Monday, May 25, 2020, the photo has already been shared 627 times with 217 reactions.
CDN Digital also featured his photo on Facebook on Monday morning, May 25, 2020, and has since been shared 3,500 times as of 11:30 a.m.
Netizens were also quick to comment on the photo in relation to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) the city is implementing due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.
Netizen John Mychelle Jalbuna, for example, commented, “At least wala silay sakay lain,” pertaining to the no-backride policy that’s been implemented due the ECQ.
(At least they don’t have back riders.) /bmjo