Clare Henney: I Need to Understand, Seriously!

12:00 PM | | Posted by Clare Henney

I just don’t understand it. In the past four years that I have lived in the neighborhood that we do now, I have been baffled by the concept of people singing on a videoke DURING a wake. Being from a provincial town I’m not at all surprised that wakes are held at the homes of the deceased. I’m not even surprised that there are people who gamble during these things. What really gets to me is all this videoke singing. Imagine this: your dearly departed inside the house and in a coffin. Outside, people are gambling at one table and there are visitors on another making small talk. AND, right smack by the front door, there is a videoke machine with people gathered around while someone sings an uncomfortably enthusiastic version of Totoy Bibo. Just this year, two people have died right next door (both were old and sick, no epidemic to worry about) and on both occasions, there has been a videoke machine that is constantly being used to “entertain” the guests up to the wee hours of the morning. Tough part is, my bedroom window is the one closest to their home, so I get the same amount of “entertainment.” It drives me crazy but what can I do? Everyone here seems to think this is a normal thing so there isn’t anyone to actually complain to.

I just don’t get how you could let people sing and have fun while you’re in mourning. I know some people say you shouldn’t be sad when someone dies because they move on to a better place but this is just ridiculous and goes too far. I don’t think anyone can blame me for wondering especially when you hear whoever is singing asking people to clap for them. Don’t even get me started on how insensitive it is for the neighbors to have the videoke on at full blast until 3 AM every single day of the usually two-week wake.

I have had enough various versions of We are the World, Nilunok ko Ang Lahat, Totoy Bibo and all those other Pinoy jukebox songs. I know Makati has rules on this already. I wish our town could catch up.