I said it before, I’ll say it once more (and most probably again, next year): Time flies so fast. It feels like only yesterday that my family and I, together with relatives and friends, were celebrating Christmas at our tiny Ibaloy homestead in Bakakeng Central. And what do you know? It’s September once more, start of the so-called ‘brrrr’ months, when the longest Yuletide Season in the world commences in our beautiful archipelago of delicious coconuts and smiling carabaos.
Switch on your radio and what do you hear but the soothing voice of iconic balladeer Jose Mari Chan crooning his beloved Christmas songs and children trying their best to be ‘nice’ and not ‘naughty’ in anticipation of gifts from Santa Claus. Suddenly, many people seem to be kinder, smile more, happier, and dare I say, ‘hope’. After all, for Christians, Christmas also happens to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let’s not forget this.
Now comes the not so ‘Jolly’ part of this week’s piece: The continuous rise in petroleum products on an almost weekly basis that is surely dampening the Christmas spirit of many Pinoys, including this near-sighted Ibaloy writer. If this goes on, only members of greedy political dynasties that have ruled our beloved but benighted land since time immemorial, will be able to afford gasoline, diesel, and other similar products.
Obviously, when petroleum prices go up, prices of other goods and services usually follows just like thunder following lightning. The only thing that seems not to go up is salary especially of those wallowing in the lower rungs of the economic ladder. No wonder many of our countrymen who sincerely ‘Love the Philippines’ have to ‘Leave the Philippines’ for practical reasons on an almost daily basis. So sad, indeed.
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ continue to bless and keep us all safe.
April 29, 2024
