Tulak, Taob, Tumba, Tira, Ligpit, Lapag

As it happens, we traced the path of my mom's stolen wallet around Las Pinas and part of Cavite. My childhood acquaintance spared me the sordid details of the entire ordeal and I just drove them from place to place to track down the culprits. He forbade me from going with them deep, better for his contacts not to see me, better for me not to see them. That I understood. The "akyat bahay" guys who stole from us turned out to be young, "Trabaho nila talaga yang magnakaw. Balewala namang ipakulong yan, sa kanila parang bakasyon lang yung selda." Quite disturbing but true. I remember cheap 5k chrome Danao-made .45s being sold when I was a kid so nothing around here surprises me anymore. By the afternoon my acquaintance was able to recover my mom's wallet, but the cash and check were gone, though. Heck, 18k is easy to lose in one day. In a mater of hours a large chunk of it was already drug money. After a while another part made its way down red light districts (note that with 24hr paid services around that's quite easy to squander). Along the way I refreshed my vocabulary.

Trabaho - usually said as "Trumabaho," criminal act, "nakaw", steal.

Tulak - Pusher. Someone you shouldn't mess with. For most part they know what's going on in their area, a useful source of information.

Bata - Usually anyone junior or younger than you, may or may not be below 20.

Taob - Can be used in multiple ways. As a verb it indicates taking someone down, though no indication of the degree of physical result. it also denotes a certain degree of heirarchical set up, ie "Taob yung mga yun sa akin."

Tumba, Tira, Ligpit - May be used interchangeably, though "ligpit" seems more permanent. May denote different degrees of bodily harm, eg. beaten up, stabbed, maimed or made to sleep with the fishes.

Loob - Literally "inside", means incarceration / being incarcerated.

Mayores, Mayor, Segunda - A heirarchy denoting organizational responsibilty and (sometimes, not always) respect in jails. From what I gathered Mayores > Mayor > Segunda with Mayores being top dog of the whole block, Mayor for a smaller area or probably a cell, and Segunda as second in command.  (May be wrong, though, especially the difference between Mayores and Mayor, might have mixed that up, didn't have enough time to clarify. Didn't want to.)

Bagsakan - Place to drop off stolen goods for fencing.

Lapag - May denote the act or a place. As an act, it is the habit of gathering together as a group in one place to divide monetary spoils and decide where to dispose of the other physical spoils. Another "lapag" is  the act of an indiviual of the group settling somewhere after the division, probably to lie low. "Lapag" can also refer to the exact geographical area. Usual initial "Lapagans" would be a place nearby a "Tulak" or a place near a "Bagsakan" to facilitate easier division of monetary spoils first then do business transactions with the "Tulak" or at the "Bagsakan". <- (which happened in this case)

Kara y Krus - Underground coin gambling game, high stakes incognito as opposed to piso-piso street version.

Babae - In "May babae dun kina Ramon," it denotes loose women, may or may not be paid. In "Kumuha sila ng babae," it takes on the meaning of prostitute. Sexist, I know.

Other observations:
* It's a known fact that if you want something recovered that you don't go to the police. They may have the infrastructure yet don't have the network to accomplish such a task.
* Too much of one type of drug (shabu?) makes your body droopy and smell bad, despite hygenic practices.
* Consanguinity and Affinity matter a lot, which is why sometimes a false / made-up relation (eg. "Insan", short for "pinsan", though the only thing that's common is the province of origin) is sought after. Gee, I wonder if I'm bad deep inside since I value this very much. I always look for other Cabbabs and consider someone like Karia a cousin since we're both Aquinos from Nueva Ecija. O_o;;
* I think it's all about life choices. My kababatas, acquaintances and I took different paths yet still talk to each other. I don't preach about paths to them, I don't think I have to. We made our own choices. They, on the other hand, provide others and me with insights as to how not to lead our lives. And that is good.
* DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try this at home unless you have the people to back you up. Even if you do have the means, I would suggest you NOT do it. It's dangerous out there.
* Yeah this whole thing bothered me, notice how I'm still not asleep even though it's 4am.

Facebook Mafia Wars my ass..
 
Here's to a life less ordinary.