Home for the holidays

Either I’m surrounded by couch potatoes, or staying home is becoming a trend in Metro Manila during Holy Week.

The only two days of the year when our paper shuts down used to be seen by employees as a rare treat, an opportunity to leave the scorching heat and pollution of the city and spend quality time with the family.

Now it seems "quality time" is undergoing redefinition. And experiences in Holy Weeks past must have given families second thoughts about leaving the scorching heat and pollution of the city for the scorching heat and pollution of tourist destinations in the provinces.

Don’t people want to contribute to "holiday economics"? Too much trouble.

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Wednesday night there was panic buying of sorts at the office, as people stocked up on DVDs to watch — at home, of course — during the long Holy Week break. Even obscure movies were snapped up.

Yesterday I learned that there were similar scenes last Holy Wednesday in other offices, particularly those located near dealers of DVDs.

Wednesday night a colleague was looking forward to days of cooking and entertaining at home, although she pretended she was fasting. Another was leaving Metro Manila, but he groused that the family was going to a place without electricity! Days with no juice for air conditioning or even a fan, in the summer heat! No Internet, no outlet for charging cell phones, and worse, no TV! How was he going to watch DVD? The guy worried about boredom in a resort. Obviously he didn’t think he could get bored at home.

My nieces and nephews, probably recalling Holy Weeks past when they left Metro Manila only to experience worse traffic and bump into the same faces in the countryside, opted to stay home this year. Even the promise of blood and gore, courtesy of penitents in Pampanga, could not make them endure any long drive from home.

In my younger years I thought that getting there was half the fun. But these days there are simply too many things to keep kids entertained at home. They have their PlayStation, their music collection and MP3 players, Internet, cell phones to text and chat with friends, and all the junk food they can eat while watching SpongeBob and other DVDs. What more can a kid want?

Beaches? Hot springs? If the kids muster the energy, they might go there next weekend when everyone’s gone.

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And since kids rule when it comes to vacations, mom and dad also stay home. Not that mom and dad mind too much. With fuel prices soaring and households having their own fiscal deficits, a long vacation can be a big drain on family finances.

The meter starts as soon as you leave Metro Manila. I used the renovated North Luzon Expressway for the first time last week and was pleased to pay only P42 at the Balintawak entry point.

The delight, of course, was short-lived. A flat rate of P42 all the way to San Fernando? You must be dreaming. At the San Fernando exit I had to pay an additional toll of over P100.

Since the new NLEX opened, motorists have been complaining of highway robbery. Why the rush to recover the investment? Maybe because the NLEX contractors are worried that their deal could be scrapped anytime by either the courts or Malacañang, or someone could obtain a TRO (temporary restraining order) that could last forever and roll back the rates.

Then there are the rates in our tourist facilities. I’ve already written about this, but I repeat that our hotel rates must be made more competitive.

It’s not just the room rates but even the fees for resort facilities. At the Fontana in Pampanga, guests must pay P250 to use the pool. Fine. But even adults who do not use the pool and simply sit nearby to keep an eye on children who are swimming must pay the same amount.

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Also, why leave Metro Manila when there are too many of the same landmarks everywhere — the same big shopping mall chains, the same fastfood outlets, the same coffee shops?

Local traditions are dying. In Subic I had lunch in a restaurant where people were stuffing their faces with burgers and lechon kawali on Good Friday. When I was younger there was always eerie silence starting at 3 p.m. on Good Friday, observed as the hour of Christ’s death. In Subic last Friday the beach was packed with people who enjoyed swimming and water sports the entire afternoon.

A vacation during Holy Week can even be a depressing reminder of the state of the nation. I learned to swim in the waters of Zambales and was a frequent visitor to Olongapo and Clark when I was younger. Like many Filipinos, I was a regular consumer of PX goods and American food in and around the bases. For a teenager, the decadence of the honky-tonks on Magsaysay Drive in Olongapo and the streets of Angeles City held a subversive appeal. I bought hard-to-find rock music albums in shops near the bases.

But the last time I visited Subic was when the Americans turned over the naval base to then President Corazon Aquino in 1992. Returning to Subic for the first time last Holy Week, I found the difference striking.

I was glad to see the beach packed, the roads smooth and clean and the export processing zone in place. The villas used for the APEC summit are lovely. But you can see that the freeport can use more business.

Driving up to the jungle trail the former US barracks and other quarters were visible, their roofs and walls corroded. It won’t take long before the facilities, most of them abandoned, are completely rundown and useless.

The nation can only be glad for the end of the flesh trade in Olongapo, but Magsaysay Drive and the rest of the city obviously have not fully recovered economically from the shutdown of the bases.

Returning to Manila through Angeles I was charged even higher at the NLEX. Perhaps the astronomical toll guaranteed light traffic on the highway.

But even with smooth traffic, by the time I reached home I was drained. Why does relaxation have to be so exhausting? Those couch potatoes know something I don’t.