I MISSED the noise of whistle bombs, triangles, kwitis, and Judas belts along with the display of modern fireworks by our neighbors here in Carmenville, Talisay City last Christmas eve.

I simply slept after a day of wrestling with books and notes on the Japanese period in Naga.

I have to finish two chapters of the volume on the history of Naga before Jan. 5.

This is part of the history project of the Provincial Government that the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos is undertaking.

I have been contracted to do the volume on Naga.

But I was glad that less people were injured during the Christmas Eve festivities maybe because not many indulged in fireworks that night. “Gamay ra ang buto-buto” was a common response from the people I asked around.

As expected, government and police officials credited their campaign against the use of firecrackers especially the big ones.

I disagree, however.

Most people just have to stretch whatever money they have to last the long holiday.

***

Some other time, President Arroyo had that penchant to rearrange holidays.

But, she did not do it during this Christmas Season.

Are the people happy? I’m sure the kids are.

Their parents are home most of the time though we definitely hope they won’t ask for small change most of the time for snacks and hanging out with friends.

But it seems I’m not in touch with people who could afford the long holidays.

While consumers have to stretch their budgets, small entrepreneurs who need to roll their money also face difficulties.

***

My bigger worry however is the economic crisis, which almost everybody expects to hit the Philippines hard next year.

I would not be surprised that many New Year’s resolutions would start with reviewing the household budget.

I had lunch recently with a friend privy to the ins and outs of the power industry and he said there is now pressure on privatized power-generating companies to approximate the true cost of power generation.

He explained that the cost of power now is actually cheap because of government subsidy to the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

But with privatization, the privatized power firms no longer enjoy this subsidy.

They could not maintain the price set by government.

They need to increase prices to remain viable.

Unfortunately for us, there are not enough private firms around yet that would generate surplus supply of electricity.

The surplus could serve as a market pressure to keep the cost of power generation low.

Power consumption in Cebu is again reaching the capacity limit of the existing system to supply.

The earliest the new plants in Toledo and Naga cities could operate and thus provide additional power supply is still 2010.

In simple terms, this situation means an increase in the price of electricity next year.

***

The closure of the Legacy banks before the Christmas vacation had a chilling impact on most of us after reading and hearing news of closures abroad.

Nevertheless, as I understand it now, problems affecting Legacy had been self-inflicted.

I’m glad that other rural banks were able to avert the panic that could have spread to the bigger banks.

With what happened to the Legacy banks, government should now ensure through monitoring and regulation that this won’t happen again in other banks. Sen. Mar Roxas should also push for the implementation of Senate Resolution 823 that instructed the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies to conduct the inquiry into the Legacy tragedy.

“Kailangang palakasin ang mga regulasyon para mapigilan ang pagsara ng mga bangkong ito,” the senator said.

It is estimated that the PDIC would have to pay P7 billion-P11 billion in deposit insurance to depositors of these banks, due to alleged “pyramid” schemes wherein the banks would offer an annual return of as high as 20 percent for depositors.

***

A motorist told me that Petron has already changed the annoying practice of gasoline boys immediately asking for “full tank.”

Motorists who want to stretch their budget prefer to buy only P100 to P500 worth of gas.

They believe filling up the gas tank full makes them prone to use the car more.

Being asked to buy full tank every time at the gas station insults them.

***

What has happened to Ariel Palcuto, the former chief of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG)? The guy has still not been pulled out from the PASG as earlier reported.

But he is on floating status. With no police work to do, he devoted his time to his new business along with his former staff.

During the long vacation, one could see Palcuto in dirty clothes personally supervising his Ayer’s Lechon at his residence in Banilad. “Ok lang bay. Sugod pa man.

But we had over 60 orders on Christmas eve,” he said.

(Check out www.inbetweencolumns.wordpress.com)

For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here.

(December 29, 2008 issue)
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