Will the -ber months bring good news?

So, the much anticipated -ber months are here, signalling – no, mandating – the start of the Christmas season in the country, and we can again tell the world that we have the longest Christmas season on earth.

Christmas songs, especially the sappy, saccharine ones, will begin wafting through the air, especially in shopping malls in hopes of encouraging mall goers to open up their wallets and get those plastics swiping away and those e-wallets transferring payments.

With schools welcoming back students and many businesses big and small reopening and people going back to work, there are signs of a return to life, not quite normal but at least things are springing back to life. Even increased vehicle volume on the roads is an encouraging sign of this, although of course there will be groans from motorists about traffic jams, which could get worse as Christmas approaches.

Is it time to be merry and jolly? Not quite, as prices of nearly everything continue their almost weekly climb. Going to market and the grocery has become a really stressful and sometimes shocking activity, when you pay more and more and get less and less.

Some market vendors have taken to quoting prices by the half-kilo, or even by 100 grams, to cushion the shock of high prices on hapless customers. Last Sunday, white onions were selling for P500 a kilo with my suki, and P600 in another stall. I settled for red onions at P180 a kilo, and decided to forego bell peppers, at P450 a kilo (P800 for capsicums).

Fortunately my pretties suki Mang Rey still sells santol at P60 a kilo (P120 two stalls away), although mangoes are now P200 a kilo.

The shortages in salt and sugar, onions and garlic don’t look like they will be solved soon. For sure, increasing local production and making local industries more efficient and cost-effective are long-term solutions. Importation as the short-term solution for bringing down prices of these commodities seems to be bogged down in controversy – over permits and anomalies and smuggling and raids.

With the way things are going – up, up and away for prices – one can only wonder if the -ber months will bring a season of good news, goodwill and good cheer. We can only hope, right? – Andrea Gomez, Pasig City