Our economic managers should help retailers

Please don’t forget that tomorrow is Friday and it is the start of the Flying Carnival 2020, which has been dubbed “The Weekend of Everything that Flies” in San Lazaro Leisure Park, Carmona, Cavite. I just learned from my friends at the International Marketing Group (IMG), Kaiser Health Group and Manila Bankers Life that they have set up their own Hot Air Balloon, which I could have taken a ride, if only I had the time to come to Manila I would have enjoyed the coming weekend with Capt. Joy Roa. But there is always a next time.

*      *      *

During last Tuesday’s 888 News Forum in Marco Polo Plaza with Consul Bobby Joseph and Robert Go of the Retailers Group in Cebu, we talked about the negative growth of the global economy thanks to the coronavirus or COVID-19. However, I asked my good friend Robert Go that since most of the cheap products they are selling to sari-sari stores are made in China, perhaps it is time for the economic managers of the Duterte Administration to sit down with the national retailers groups and find out which of these made in China products can be made in the Philippines.

Remember that old adage, it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness? Indeed, rather than think that the world economy might go into a tailspin, we must find God’s blessing in what is happening in the globe. It reminded me that when I was a young boy, the first time I visited Disneyland in Los Angeles  I was amazed by the beautiful toy products sold in Disney, and most of them were made in the USA. But during my last visit to the US, I went to Disneyworld and found out that most of the products they sold were made in China already. This has become a worldwide phenomenon.

However thanks to COVID-19, the Chinese economy has grounded to a screeching halt. In food products alone, Philippine retailers purchase millions if not billions of these Chinese products that end up for sale in the small sari-sari stores all over the Philippines. So it is a matter of having our economic managers sit down with the retailers association to find out which products that the Chinese manufacturers have stopped selling and which products can be produced here in the Philippines. I’m not saying that this is easy to do…however it is a rare opportunity for the Philippines to improve the capability of our manufacturing industry and help the local economy.

Incidentally the Department of Tourism (DOT) came up with the idea of promoting Philippine Shopping Festival to bring shoppers into shopping malls to help alleviate the lack of foreign tourists coming into the country. The Philippine Shopping Festival was supposed to run from March 1 to 31. However, out of the blue the DOT has suddenly postponed this month-long Philippine shopping festival, as it prioritizes the safety of Filipinos amid the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

Hence the DOT issued this memorandum, “Given the alarming rise in COVID-19 infections all over the world during the past few days, the DOT has postponed the nationwide mall sale of the 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival until further notice.” This program by the DOT would have been the first ever shopping expo in the country, and was aimed at promoting the Philippines as a destination where shopping is fun, unique and affordable. Perhaps they should have consulted the Department of Health (DOH) before embarking on this program. So this program is on hold.

*      *      *

I completely forgot that last year while he was in Japan, President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and asked it to get rid of Smartmatic! I really don’t know why I missed this news report which happened last year. But thanks to the Social Networks this was repeated and it caught my eye… after all Smartmatic has always been my pet peeve since the 2010 elections.

This brings me back to what I’ve been writing about why can’t the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Foreign Department not come up with ways to have former Comelec Chairman Andy Bautista arrested in the US? Republican Senators chastize the Duterte administration for detaining Sen. Leila de Lima, yet they are not doing anything to arrest Andy Bautista who is wanted in the Philippines.

I recall that two years ago at the height of this troubled marriage between Andy and Tish Bautista, she told President Duterte about the balikbayan box full of bank books, investments and financial documents. It was later on discovered that Bautista has flown to the US On November 21, 2017. He refused to return to the Philippines and has since become a fugitive especially when his wife accused him of a P1 Billion hidden wealth!

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]