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MANILA, Philippines—In years past, Christmas started as early as September, with Christmas lanterns and other yuletide decorations already appearing everywhere. Even Christmas songs were already playing in the airwaves as early as the first week of September.
This year, because of the devastating typhoons we experienced in late September and early October, the festive mood was understandably aborted and even in mid-November numerous families affected by the floods are not yet in the mood to celebrate. Neither do they have the purchasing power to do a lot of Christmas shopping.
Thanks to the economic recovery occurring in a good number of our trading partners (even the US GDP increased by more than 3 percent in the third quarter) and the increased deployment of Filipino workers abroad, it is highly probable that our exports of goods and services will see a visible improvement in the months of December 2009 through February 2010.
Also, the government funds available for pump priming can be productively used in the rehabilitation works needed in Metro Manila, Central and Northern Luzon, and other regions that suffered the greatest damage from typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. Reconstruction is quite labor intensive and can inject a lot of purchasing power into the affected regions.
Finally, political spending by presidential and national candidates as well as those running for local government positions will start pouring in during the Christmas season and beyond.
This may be one Christmas in the Philippines that can be celebrated following the example of some Latin American countries that extend the Christmas season until February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord and the Purification of Our Lady. This can possibly happen if the millions of OFWs coming home this Christmas will decide to stay a little longer and bring some of their relatives to the numerous tourism destinations that have become more accessible because of improved infrastructures.
As an exception, the OFWs should make a special request to their respective employers to permit their visit home to be a little longer than usual. They can give the reason of helping their relatives recover from the trauma of the last killer typhoons.
Without modifying the official Church calendar, the official working days and the academic school year, it may be possible for the visiting OFWs and other balikbayans to prolong their stay in the Philippines and continue the festive mood to include the Sto. Nino celebration in the third week of January in Cebu and other places where the Child Jesus is adored in a special way. Some may even decide to stay beyond February 2 and catch the very colorful flower festivals in Baguio during the third week of February. The damaged infrastructures have been repaired so that Baguio is once more accessible from all points. The Baguio celebrations usually coincide with Valentine, which could be the fitting culmination of the prolonged Christmas celebration.
This especially prolonged Christmas will especially benefit the industrial sectors that belong to the Triple Ts (telecom, transport, and tourism) and the Four F's (food, fashion, furnishings, and fFun). As the visiting Filipinos travel to Baguio, Cebu Bohol, Iloilo, Dumaguete, and other points of interest, they will intensify domestic tourism which is best during these cool months of the year when there are no or at least fewer typhoons.
These domestic tourists will obviously travel by land, air, or sea, benefiting our local transport industry. As they move around more, they could be expected to be in touch with their relatives and friends through their cell phones.
This prolonged Christmas celebration will give time to such provinces as Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, and Ilocos Norte to recover in the production of native delicacies which are now better packaged and marketed. Examples of these are turrones, pastillas de leche, and polvoron, which can now compete with imported sweets. Then all the fish products from Pangasinan can be enjoyed by the domestic tourists and not to mention the bagnet and longganisa that the Ilocos region is famous for.
The fashion industry should get a natural boost as the OFWs loaded with money can help their relatives replenish their wardrobes that have been decimated by the floods. The same can be said about the furnishing industry which should benefit from the increased demand for furniture and other house decors (together with home appliances) as households replace whatever were destroyed by the natural disasters. There should be a special effort of towns like Angono in Rizal and Paete in Laguna to attract these domestic tourists so that they can market their paintings and carvings as decorative items for the homes.
The balikbayans may actually purchase some of these items for their own homes abroad and as “pasalubong” for their friends abroad. Finally, the local fun or entertainment industry may think of organizing special events to coincide with the prolonged Christmas celebration so they can attract the balikbayans and their relatives. For example, I can imagine how happy the visiting Filipinos and their relatives would be if they can catch Charise Pempengco performing in Manila, Cebu, and other key cities. These special events can even be organized by some of the candidates for president and other national positions. Who knows, we may even be able to convince Manny Pacquiao to forget about his political ambitions and organize a series of exhibition matches to launch the much-desired program of his training some young Filipino amateur boxers so that they could win medals in the London Olympics in 2012.
A longer Christmas season this year may be one way of counteracting the dampening effects of the natural disasters on our Gross Domestic Product. I am not in any way recommending it as a permanent institution. Next Christmas, we should go back to the traditional season which ends with the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. I also pray that we will not see the likes of Ondoy and Pepeng for many more years to come. We should, however, demand of the government officials to be elected in May 2010 to improve significantly the national preparedness for natural disasters. For comments, my email address is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph.
