By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
generally.
People from Metro Manila are flocking to Baguio. Marcos Highway, their main entry point, has been trafficky the past two weeks, especially on weekends. While the visitors might jumpstart the economy, they are also bringing in new Covid-19 variants.
Local residents of the city and suburbs have also been coming out of the woodwork. They had been constrained in their houses for so long that they now have to get out to make a living. The usual Baguio traffic is almost here again. Gridlock traffic any time of the day will be the normal sight around the city if the condition of our streets the past two weeks is anything to go by.
I had to pass by SM City earlier today and there is a lot of people by pandemic standards. No matter how scary the Covid-19 virus will be in the coming days, the big number of people in the streets that I have seen today will become bigger and bigger and will continue all the way to May of next year when voters will troop to the polls.
The economy will get a boost, the likes of which we have never seen for almost two years.
Our usual problems in the city like lack of parking spaces and lack of taxicabs will be constant problems during rush hours so we have to brace ourselves.
As local tourists will come in a deluge, accommodation establishments, gas stations, vegetable vendors, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc., will be happy. How about us the ordinary people (the likes of Tomas, Ricardo and Colas)? We will be suffering from the usual problems like lack of tap water, pollution, blackouts, and other scarcity due to sudden influx of outsiders.
What will we gain? Nothing. The so called trickle-down economics will not reach our palms, much less our pockets. Perhaps some, but not really much.
Then there will be the high prices of commodities that tourists love like the temperate vegetables. Such will be good for our farmers but not for us, generally.
At least, there will be more jobs. The economy will get a shot-in-arm. Hopefully, it will lead us through the economic darkness of the tunnel towards the light of pre-pandemic times.
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