Filipinos have been ordered to keep festivities low-key – but Manila is in need of a Christmas miracle
Ask anyone in the Philippines when they celebrate Christmas and they will tell you, “September to December”. That means, by now, one of Southeast Asia’s only Christian-majority countries should be well into its four-month festive extravaganza. Usually, halls are fully decked with holly and calendars are bulging with plans. But something is up. Christmas is amiss and joy is in short supply.
Visiting Cebu City this week, I saw no decorations whatsoever. My treeless hotel lobby was completely bare of tinsel and there was not one bauble or Santa hat on display at any of the airport check-in desks. This is in stark contrast to regional neighbour Singapore, where decorations have gone into overdrive, echoing a general trend in Europe for Christmas creep. The reason for this lack of Filipino joy? A torrent of bad news.
The typhoon-prone archipelago has recently been hammered by several superstorms and the damage from these natural disasters has been exacerbated by a corruption scandal that saw money for critical infrastructure flood into lawmakers’ bank accounts. With recovery efforts ongoing, president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has ordered government agencies to keep their Christmas parties “simple” and save on their end-of-year celebrations. Showing respect for and solidarity with people’s suffering is an understandable gesture; appropriate even. An official belt-tightening exercise might also have seemed like a shrewd political calculation to placate an angry, graft-weary public. But curtailing Christmas is a huge gamble and unseasonal thrift could end up making the situation worse.
Large corporations are said to be following the government’s lead, scaling back festivities for fear of reputational repercussions. That collective bah humbug is damaging. Cutting back on boozy staff parties and dinners is not just bad for companies’ morale, it also deprives the hard-hit hospitality sector of an all-important revenue stream. Retail and restaurants suffer. And tourists lose out too. At this time of year, the Philippines is usually a magical place to visit, with a combination of ostentatious Catholic ceremony and traditional ornamentation. Prescribing a simple, quiet Christmas to this fun-loving country that is struggling is a massive misstep – the political equivalent of handing out lumps of coal.
What Filipinos really need after a challenging year is a double helping of cheer with all the trimmings. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for a Christmas miracle in Manila. Marcos needs to show some festive spirit and, more importantly, a bit of political pragmatism. For inspiration, he need only look to the Thais, who are similarly down at heel right now. Thailand has had a horrible year to rival that of the Philippines and the government in Bangkok has made it clear that the end-of-year shows and festivals must go on (when the Queen Mother died, a sold-out Blackpink show still went ahead). No matter one’s opinion on ever-encroaching commercial cheer, ‘tis the season to be jolly, after all.
James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
