Yesterday was a another whimsically declared holiday. For Metro Manila, that is. Is this part of Arroyo’s “holiday economics”? Supposedly, because it’s a long weekend, people would go out of town and therefore stimulate local tourism. Notwithstanding the fact that tourism sucks as a long-term industry, what about the potential production of all these people who are out of town (or more likely just malling since going out of town is becoming a rather expensive proposition)? Where’s the economics sense in that? Maybe, it’s part of a scheme to reduce the number of people in Metro Manila so that they won’t join the demonstrations (like most people still care). Or maybe I’m just too cynical. Maybe the government learned of a destabilization plot and they are just after the safety and well-being of the Metro Manila populace (who were probably out malling). Who knows?