Group expects businesses to recover as holiday season nears

MANILA, Philippines — As the holiday season approaches, a business group is expecting better sales and recovery from losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Very hopeful talaga tayo (We are very hopeful). We are expecting that we will be better this last quarter of the year. Lalong-lalo na ngayon, umpisa na ng pagsha-shop (especially now that shopping starts),” Philippine Retailers Association President Rosemarie Ong said during the Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday.

“Alam naman natin na ang Pilipinas (We know that the Philippines) is a consumption-driven economy. So, we are hopeful. We expect na (that) it would be better. Hopefully, even stronger pagtapos ng taon (by the end of the year),” she said, noting that COVID-19 cases are declining and vaccination is ramped up.

According to Ong, owners are slowly reviving their businesses as they observed the return of shoppers in physical stores since mobility was eased when Metro Manila shifted to Alert Level 3.

“Ang magandang balita nila, slowly, bumabalik na ang mga shoppers. In fact, ‘yung mga physical stores natin, binibisita na,” she said.

(Their good news is that slowly, shoppers visit physical stores.)

“At nakakatuwa naman at nasabi na nga nila na nakakabawi na daw sila. In fact, for the past months nagne-negative sila puro daing talaga ‘yung ating mga negosyante. Pero ngayon, ang nababalitaan ko, ang sabi nila, ang inaasahan nila kahit mag-break even man lang sila itong hanggang katapusan ng taon,” Ong added.

(It is nice to hear that they are recovering. In fact, for the past months, they are seeing negative sales and they are protesting. But now, I heard they said that they are expecting to just break even until the end of the year.)

Earlier, businesses were calling on the government to relax restrictions in the capital region to cater to more customers and regain their losses.

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