Do patriotic duty: go on vacation - GOTCHA by Jarius Bondoc

Today’s the last day of a three-day weekend. Groan. But don’t worry, we’re looking forward to a four-day weekend next. Five, for government workers. That’s good for the economy. Whoopey, we’re off to a good start.

Yup, dropping work and going on long breaks to our hometowns is what our economy needs right now. It’s a patriotic duty to be on vacation. Nope, I’ve not been bitten by that terrible bug that intoxicated the past administration into sloth. I’m just taking lessons from what Korea did four years ago, when recession was about to set in on its economy.

Taking off to visit relatives and friends in the farm would give us a chance to spend. Our spending would perk up the rural economy, where the bulk of our population is. Money would go around town in the hands of Tata Carding, the magpuputo, and Nana Ising who sells frogs, Mang Bio who havests rice, Aling Biana who does the laundry, Juanita who gathers flowers for the poon, and Lito who drives a tricycle. Why, even little Bitoy, even if only ten, makes some cash picking buko for the visitors from the big city. Not to forget Akong-a, whose ancestors built the general merchandise store across the plaza, when was that, during the American Occupation. With the money we pump into the barrio, they’re thus able to trade goods and services with each other – and with folks from next town who, by the way, are similarly hosting vacationers. They’re able to buy clothes or toys, beer or burgers, books and stuff. Part of the cash eventually finds its way back to the city where we work, where it’s used to buy fuel and supplies to run the factory. City workers are able to keep their jobs. Businessmen then sell their wares again in the countryside. And so on and so forth.

That’s how Koreans saved the day in 1997, when the Asian financial crisis rocked bankers, stock traders, real estate developers, appliance and car makers, food processors, shippers and everyone else in between. Which meant their entire population. Not one to fret over suddenly going bust after 25 years of economic boom, the Korean people simply told each other to "buy, but buy Korean." Their spending saved their economy, unlike in next-door Japan where the official and public knee-jerk reaction was to tighten belts. Korea not only pulled out of the crisis in two years but also helped her neighbors like RP, Thailand and Malaysia recover. Japan is still in the doldrums.

RP’s economy has risen a little and fallen a lot since 1997. Businessmen and consumers recovered from the initial shock, then decided to take advantage of certain factors and generally kept the economy going. Some industrialists invested in cheaper supply inventories. Others simply bought cheap consummables. But two-and-a-half years of drift followed under the Estrada tenure. Business resolve dampened with each new report of patent corruption, profligate spending and plain ineptitude. Consumers stopped spending, anticipating worse events as the months wore on. EDSA-II ended that, fortunately, with a new resolve to set things aright politically and to get things going economically.

Such effort, however, requires a combination of public optimism and bold leadership. Sadly, new stumbling blocks came up. Foremost of these was Joseph Estrada’s insistence on still being President. This, when he realized upon leaving Malacañang that he’d be facing criminal charges instead of cavorting with his many mistresses. The Supreme Court took a good two months to decide the matter with finality. During that period, jittery investors kept wondering which way the political wind would blow, and thus were distracted from their usual business. Things haven’t settled. For, Estrada and his senatorial candidates are talking of a revolt if he’s arrested for the nonbailable charge of plunder. Meanwhile, a justice who will try the case strangely is yakking this early why Estrada can’t be jailed as yet. It’s as if he’s trying hard to prove independence from Malacañang, where his spouse now reigns supreme. Such uncertainties only scare consumers and investors.

Even sadder, the new leadership lacked self-confidence and thus preoccupied itself with little look-good activities. Indications of impending recession in the US and more of the same from Japan – RP’s two biggest trade partners, lenders and donors – have raised a signal for Filipinos to brace for a similar storm. But the new administration, although ironically headed by an economist, took no initiative. It just waded from controversy to controversy, all avoidable, of squabbling generals and election indecisions and movie restrictions. Finally confronted with stark realities of a falling peso and worsening hunger, the leadership claimed that, mind you, it’s doing something about it. What? Well, there’s, ah, a rice subsidy for a thousand copra farmers. That’s all? And there’s, er, ah, this plan to increase government’s buying price of palay by a peso per kilo.

Big deal. What RP needs now is a leadership that can return the mandate of people power with drastic reforms and actions. In the absence of that, then we the people will have to fend for ourselves. We will have to ensure prevention of recession in spite of the government. We can start with consumer spending. But having learned from Korea’s lesson, we shouldn’t just "buy, but buy Filipino." We must buy from our hometowns. That way, each corner of the country will have a fighting chance – not just the big cities or the usual trading centers and tourist spots.

Consumer spending during these critical times is a first step to the bleeding from labor layoffs and factory shutdowns. Unemployment is already at five million workers; underemployment, at 11 million. It’s a good thing the jobless among us have relatives abroad to fall back on. Then again, overseas earnings are also dwindling. Yet if foreign investors see us Filipinos marching on despite the trying conditions, they’d find reason to sink in capital on new factories and facilities. They’ll be convinced that we have no way to go but up. And to hell with pessimists who keep saying that Filipinos have no money to spend, yet proclaim such economic discovery over red wine in plush bars.

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