By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Every New Year, I used to say that one year just passed quickly, so we have quickly become one year older. Then I would continue. In no time it would be Holy Week. And when it is Holy Week, Christmas would be just around the corner. Then we will be older again by one year.
Staring at the calendar in front of me, the month of May is now at its tail end. Yes, Christmas is now just around the bend.
There appears to be no Christmas spirit on the horizon. What you can feel around is the uncertainty which is bothering everyone. As we eke out a living, the only ones quite comfortably secure of the arrival of their monthly salary are the government employees. Their counterparts in the private sector are afraid that they might be called anytime by their boss to tell them it is time for them to be also laid off. So many of their former co-employees have gone ahead that way.
For us on our own, or who are self-employed, the buzz words are doom and gloom. For how long will people continue to have money to pay for our goods or services? We don’t know.
Everywhere, there is no gung-ho attituded. The government’s effort to help MSME’S (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) has become a gross failure. As one congresswoman revealed, the money being dangled out by the government which they could borrow at very low interest is not attractive anymore. As they must have found out, why borrow money to expand when there is no demand out there?
One rich client dropped by the office the other week and there was one advice he heard which he is echoing everywhere he goes: “Just hold on to whatever you have. Don’t invest.” With that attitude, the economy will continue to die. Reviving it to pre-pandemic levels would take at least three years.
So I was just trying to be funny when somebody caught us in the office rearranging the furniture. “What’s happening?” She asked. I answered, “We are getting ready, business-wise, to sprint full speed ahead when the impending end of this pandemic happens.” Who was I kidding?
Then I recalled what a taxi driver said the other month. “Tayo pag may pambili ng bigas at tuyo, OK na. Yung mga mayayaman, baka hindi sila pwedeng mabuhay ng ganyan.” Of course, he was just trying to console himself.
A big indication on how much the economy has gone down was the freight service we are patronizing to bring up our printing materials from Dagupan City. Every day, they had two trips coming up to Baguio for almost a year. Then the other day, we were informed that there would only be one trip a day. Their customers are mainly local businesses. This means business got even worse. Not so many goods, the stocks-in-trade of businesses, are being sent up her, or down there, to the lowlands. That badly dampened the thought that the economy will continue to slowly become alive. In short, business has become “badder.”
Such jolted me back to reality from the talk I was having with a staff member. I was telling him about the things we should be doing and projects we would undertake. It was like some action plan for the near future. For how long shall we wait to get into action?
I might just as well coast along while waiting for the second dose of my Sinovac jab.**
