TOMORROW is Valentine’s Day, the most lucrative contrived retail holiday of the year — especially here, as Filipinos are rather ardent in materially displaying their affection — a nation-sized tempest of sentiment and hormones turned into a perfect storm by falling on a payday Friday.
For anyone not partaking in the festivities, it may be a miserable scene — traffic snarled worse than the Gordian Knot, not an empty hotel room or restaurant table available for hundreds of miles in any direction — but it will be a bonanza for the hospitality and retail industries. Flower vendors can earn a year’s revenue in one or two days, and for most jewelers, Valentine’s Day is a bigger holiday than Christmas.