2078 (Pugad Baboy story arc)

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Cover of PB5 (1994), the 5th compilation of Pugad Baboy, which features the story arc 2078. Art by Pol Medina, Jr.

2078 is an adventure story arc of the Philippine comic strip series Pugad Baboy, created by Pol Medina Jr. and originally published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This particular story arc lasts 45 strips long. In 1994, the story arc was reprinted in PB5, the fifth book compilation of the comic strip series.

[edit] Synopsis

The story begins with the Pugad Baboy gang waiting in line at an LRT station. No sooner had they boarded when the freak occurrence of a black hole right in the train's path threw everyone across a time warp. The group would soon discover that they had been transported to the future - 2078 to be exact. They were however, in exactly the same place they had been before the black hole swallowed their boxcar.

The first person of the future they meet is Taxx Vader, a combined spoof of the Star Wars character Darth Vader and a more mundane personage, a tax evader. It is Taxx Vader who enlightens them regarding their being in the year 2078 when they profess confusion regarding the state of abandonment and disrepair they see in the LRT station. A friend of Taxx Vader's, Chewbaboy, (another spoof, this time of the Star Wars character, Chewbacca) then offers to act as the group's tour guide in Manila of 2078.

Among the developments and changes they discover are the following:

• The Ninoy Aquino International Airport had been renamed Tan Yu International Airport.
• Bien-Bien Roxas became President in 2028.
• Mandarin has replaced Filipino as the national language.
• Arabs now use the Philippines as a rest and recreation base before returning to their jobs as contract workers in Japan.
• The Japanese had bought the entire United States and turned it into a gigantic golf course with the Americans as their caddies.
• The US President is an African-American woman.
• The heavyweight boxing champion of the world is only nine years old.
• Quiapo is now known as the Gilbert-Willie Yu District.
• The scarcity of water has caused the production of beer to stop.
• Medical science has advanced to the point where coin-operated CAT scan machines exist, animal organs can be transplanted into humans, and human cloning can be arranged.
• Inflation has driven the Philippine peso to such stratospheric levels that even a simple pair of shoes can cost millions each.

[edit] Dobermaxx

All of a sudden, the sound of gunfire causes the group to scamper for cover. Chewbaboy identifies the culprit as a member of Black Eden, a gang of drug pushers operating in the city. The pusher happened to pass right in front of Polgas, who was in the process of assembling his OCB-issue Garapata Gun and he instinctively kicked the criminal's legs out from under him. The Black Eden gang member retaliated by attempting to shoot Polgas with his laser pistol, but was thwarted when a pistol shot hitting the pusher's gun hand caused the criminal to lose his aim. The laser shot from the pusher's weapon, however, immolated Polgas' own Garapata Gun. Polgas was surprised to observe that the shooter who saved his life had also used a Garapata Gun. Thus did Polgas meet Dobermaxx, the OCB's Director in 2078.

Dobermaxx explains that the captured pusher is named Adam Carlo, and that the drug he was selling was known as "Blue Emerald", smuggled into the country by grinding the drug crystals into powder and applying it under the arms disguised as deodorant. Dobermaxx also remarks that Polgas looks familiar; he mentions Agent Polgas by name. Polgas decides to hide his true identity. The pair get into Dobermaxx's ride, presumably a Porsche variant similar to Polgas' Thunderdog code-named the Bullfox II and proceeded to his office after incarcerating Adam Carlo. They began to discuss OCB personnel files, equipment and the drug pushers. Dobermaxx explains that the Black Eden gang's mastermind is a shadowy figure named Anton Damien who had three clones as his lieutenants - Adam Alfred, Adam Berto and the prisoner, Adam Carlo. Dobermaxx adds that Agent Polgas' grandson, another OCB agent, was missing and presumed dead when he intentionally crashed the heli-jet he was piloting in order to kill Adam Berto.

Just then, Dobermaxx receives a transmission that the cell block in which Adam Carlo is being kept is under attack - an escape attempt was being made. He attaches a jet pack to his Dingo Suit and rushes off, while Polgas takes the Jet Jackal, the OCB's heli-jet. On their flight towards cell block 32, a repulse laser beam shoots down Dobermaxx; his power suit is damaged and has become disabled. Polgas crashes the heli-jet on the platform on which Adam Carlo was shooting the laser weapon from, killing him. Polgas himself jumped clear off the vehicle before it hit and landed right into a furious Anton Damien, who was wearing a power suit, multiplying his strength twentyfold; he gave Polgas a beating. Polgas finally bit into the carotid cables in Anton Damien's power suit and stuck his earring into the exposed wires, short-circuiting the power suit. With the power suit disabled, Polgas now returned the favor and gave Anton Damien a beating. He got the surprise of his life when, upon removing the mastermind's helmet, he saw whom he thought was Atong Damuho, his mortal enemy back in the 20th Century, but who was in reality, Atong Damuho's great-grandson. Both Dobermaxx and Anton Damien wonder at this strange turn of events.

[edit] Return from 2078

Into this air of wonderment rushes Chewbaboy, shouting that the black hole had opened once again at the LRT station. Polgas could now go back to his own time. Polgas, however, was loath to leave before Anton Damien was safely in jail. Chewbaboy informs him that if doesn't go now, he would have to wait for twenty-three more years before the black hole opens again. Torn between duty and the desire to go home, Polgas hesitates. Anton Damien ridicules him by sticking out his tongue at Polgas. Polgas grabs Dobermaxx's Garapata Gun and at point blank range, sprays multiple shots at the criminal mastermind's face. The unbearable itch causes Anton Damien to vigorously scratch his face. Everyone rushes off to the LRT station and they arrive just as the black hole begins to close. Dobermaxx peels off the protective coating on a power cable on the train tracks and uses it to reactivate his Dingo Suit. He hefts Polgas over his head and before throwing Polgas into the closing black hole, promises him that he will find the missing grandson of Agent Polgas. The throw was good and Polgas made it into the black hole before it closed. Dobermaxx removes his helmet and reveals himself to be actually the missing grandson of Agent Polgas, calling him lolo (Filipino - grandfather).

[edit] Epilogue

The time warp brought the Pugad Baboy group back to 1992, their then-present time. However, they retained no memory of their adventures in 2078. They were wondering why Polgas was outside the train, spread-eagled on the box-car's rear windshield. They also noticed that his Garapata Gun looked different and that it now shot farther than it was supposed to.

Closer inspection by the OCB's Weapons and Armaments laboratory disclosed the high-tech nature of the weapon. They could not determine the exact kind of metal used in its construction. It also featured a built-in laser sight and a satellite transceiver aside from an etching engraved on the trigger housing - "Dobermaxx". Since his memory of the time spent in 2078 had been erased, Polgas could only speculate on where the new Garapata Gun came from. He decides to adopt "Dobermaxx" as his new OCB callsign.

[edit] Trivia

• One of Pol Medina, Jr.'s running gags involves the contention that Chinese businessmen would soon own everything in the country, hence the inclusion of Tan Yu and his family in this story arc.
• Tan Yu is a very successful if reclusive businessman born of Chinese immigrants from Fujian. He made his first million at only eighteen years of age and is now considered to be one of Asia's richest men with properties in the Philippines, Taiwan, China and the United States.^[1]
• Tan Yu's daughter, Emilia "Bien-Bien" Roxas, runs Tan Yu's main company, Asia Internationale Group.^[2]
• Gilbert C. Yu and Willie C. Yu are the founders of G&W Architects, Engineers, Project Development Consultants, an architectural firm established in 1971 and responsible for the construction of over 1000 buildings.^[3][4]
• References to science-fiction films are abound in the 2078 story arc. Aside from the Star Wars Taxx Vader and Chewbaboy spoofs, an Imperial Stormtrooper could barely be seen in one of the panels. Robocop is also present in another panel.
• The fact that 2078 Manila is swarming with flyovers is an apparent stab at the Aquino administration's construction of the Edsa Shrine fly-over during the early 1990s.
• Chewbaboy's revelation of Arabs working as contract employees is a "reversal" of Overseas Filipino Workers often going to jobs in the Middle East and Japan.
• In a strip immediately preceding 2078 in PB5, an author's note reveals that the Pugad Baboy gang went to 2078 on the day of the 1992 Philippine presidential elections and came back one week later in real time. Dagul claims to Doc Sebo that they were gone for several weeks.

[edit] Footnotes