The Philippine Online Chronicles

The media room was packed with media people that come and go. It was well-equipped including WiFi, clean, cool, appropriately lit.

Food, cookies, nuts, drinks and coffee came in abundance, including desserts of fresh pastillas catered by DnD (Dimsum 'n Dumplings).

And take note, the portalet was clean, manned, equipped with supplies, plus--it has air-conditioning.

Marie Montelibano and Didi Sytangco were there for a while maybe to rest their weary feet and eat lunch.

When it comes to organizing, there can be no one better than Maria Montelibano. It's more than A-1. I remember how difficult it was for Blog Watch to get through for a Noynoy interview. Maria Monteilbano had everything quietly in order, in control, from the arrival of Noynoy to coverage to the sound system. The neophyte that I was on these things, slowly I came to understand --she must have good reasons.

Now with the food. It was packaged in good taste and the catering staff were well-manned courteous and well organized serving the media people inside the press room and outside. At the end of the of the Inaugural Program when most of the media people came in to eat after a hard day's work and were about to finish their reports, their coverage and all, and send them to their desk editors there was more than enough food left on the table. There were still boxes of food stacked in the corners of the media room, or even maybe in the catering vans.

While waiting for my other Blog Watch companions who were still inside the press room (Anton, Sony, Pocholo, Peter and Mark), I saw a line just outside starting to build up. And guess what? The extra food was being distributed. There was no classifying if the one in line was a spectator, a poor man in slippers, a vendor, a well-dressed person, a child, a senior citizen and the like. There were a few who still might not know or could not understand what discipline was. They were scampering trying to break in the line prompting someone to say, "Magbago an po tayo."

But yes, I was touched. In other events, the organizers would perhaps have brought home the loot, the goodies, and would have distributed them to their friends and close relatives (and so it is the same with corruption but on a gargantuan scale). Here, the goodies were shared among everyone who was there at the opportune time.

Good intentions come in small packages--when multiplied they create ripples. And I thought, why don't we in our own small way bring out the good intentions in us, even in small packages--to create ripples across the nation when multiplied?

Each time a new administration comes to office, we always hear promises, we always have hopes--but even before it is over (or way before it is over) our leaders falter, our leaders fail, and we give up and stop hoping in frustration. This is because we let it be. This is because we let them be. The success of a nation must be 2-way--the leaders and the people.

It's not too late for a change. We can capitalize with the seeming sincerity of the Noynoy administration and start with the good intentions in each of us, no matter how small--even in small packages.