Nurturing Mañana

The private sector had to go it “alone” since two years ago when the destructive assaults of the Asian Crisis literally sent most tourist related businesses to close shops and headed home in search of other ventures.

What’s mind numbing in the obvious upward spiral of business closures (more than 2,000) is our well greased sense of mañana undisturbed by this phenomenon. Apparently, we’ve treated it with inconsequence in hopes that the “bad economic times” would hopefully disappear someday soon.

If tourism has headed deep south, then it would seem prudent to earmark the planned expenditure of more than $1 million in promotions in Japan to retain a Washington-based public relations firm to slam the brakes on the federal takeover plan that now threatens the closure of our apparel industry. Our obvious attitude of inconsequence on a fatally serious economic matter is an issue that current and prospective investors have picked-up and used as a basis to head elsewhere with their investment portfolio.

As such, their hopes to become faithful partners in wealth and jobs creation with the local government have fizzled in the sea of mañana. We need not go further than the most recent news report of worrisome inactivity on the lack of investments issued last week by the Coastal Resources Management Office. It’s known in economics as an “indicator” which trumpets a single message: the lack of substantive investments over the last two years. This is an issue that local leadership needs to resolve over nurturing its well greased sense of mañana.

We hope local leadership understands the social and economic consequences of its negligence to protect our last Economic Ace in palm: the apparel industry. Today, it fuels some $47 million annually in director taxes discounting the additional $50 million in tax contributions from residual businesses which were established years back to support the industry. It includes the shipping industry, insurance companies, land leases of indigenous property, purchases of food and other needs from small and large grocery stores, fuel, payments to CHC and CUC, to name a few.

In the process, the existence of the apparel industry and residual businesses that support it have created wealth and jobs. Wealth in the sense that it pumps millions of dollars into the local coffers while tourism takes a distant second fiddle in revenue generation. It created jobs for both private and public sectors of more than 3,000. Do we allow our wonderful sense of mañana to let the apparel industry with the usual attitude of “sink or swim” amid the rough turbulence from without and within? Think about it. It’s our livelihood whether we like it or not. Si Yuus Maase`!