BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS

ON the fringes of Roxas boulevard, where many shady deals are made, there’s a thriving business that operates primarily on trust.

In front of the US Embassy, under the shade of an old Balete tree, Linda Dragon will hold electronic devices for anyone going inside the embassy building for P150. No written guarantee except trust.

I experienced this recently when I went to the US Embassy consular section to renew my visa. My appointment for interview was 7:30 a.m. I got there at 7 a.m. only to read the notice that since March 1, 2007, all electronic devices are not allowed inside.

I had no companion to hold the cell phone for me. I could not go home to Las Piñas which is more than an hour’s travel from the embassy.

I appealed to the security guard but he pointed to the written notice. But he was kind enough to suggest that I talk to some people plying their trade on the embassy premises. That’s how I met Linda Dragon.

Linda is a hustler. Sunburned, made-up and bejeweled, she is welcoming but minces no words. Asked for a guarantee that she would not run away with my cellphone, she said, "Mukha akong pera pero hindi ako magnanakaw. (I look materialistic but I’m not a thief)."

Looking at my Nokia E-51, she said, "I am not interested in your cell phone. Look at my diamonds," and she showed me her ring.

Left with no other choice, I handed her my cell phone which she put inside a zip lock plastic bag. She gave me a tiny piece of cardboard with the number 20. She said her P150 fee would be paid when I redeem my cell phone.

It turned out that it was not only my cell phone that I needed to give Linda for safekeeping because when I passed through the X-ray machine, the guard saw my MP3. I went back to the balete tree. Linda was happy to see me, thinking that I got my visa that fast. I felt relieved. I thought, if she had any intentions of running away with my cell phone, I would not find her there anymore.

Without any apprehension, I entrusted to her my MP3. "That’s another P150," she said. Two hours after, I gave her P300 and she gave me back my cell phone and MP3.

Linda, whose real name is Isabel Lopez, proudly said that in the two years that she has been into the "safekeeping business," there has been no incidence of loss.

She said she has 39 associates in the business including her two sisters, Belinda and Cecile, an English major from Philippine Christian University. They started with ID photo service in 1978 and branched out to other services like selling newspapers, snacks, drinks and other things needed by visa applicants. Since fixed stalls are not allowed, they move about all throughout the day but within the area so their "customers" can find them easily.

This is Adam Smith’s theory of "invisible hand" at work guiding market participants to trade in the most mutually beneficial manner.

Linda said they have also been experiencing a "recession" in their business since the Embassy has allowed a commercial photo service inside the consular section.

Linda calls the US embassy premises her "hacienda" which she zealously takes care of. We are the "yayas" of the US visa applicants, she said.

In her work, she has met all kinds of people and has heard so many stories, happy and otherwise. She is ready to listen, even offers a shoulder to cry on for those who fail to get a visa. She related the story of a couple who shared their anxieties as they went through the process of undergoing a DNA test to prove that their child, a menopause baby, was theirs. There were some fiancées of American men who were happy to see her again when they came back as "balikbayans."

She also has her own story to tell, complete with pictures. Unmarried Linda said she adopted two babies. She was heartbroken when the eldest, Princess, was taken back by her biological parents when she turned 10. She said Princess is now 19 and writes her from Canada. Her son, Vincent James, is six years old.