THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE REFURBISHED AIRPORT

By: Iris P. Concepcion

I did confess here that I may have to leave this page for a long period of time. You see, I am chasing Santa's sleigh. It is worth the sloping experience since one of the crawling turtles has a crush on one of the reindeers.

I sent off a niece of mine at the airport (she is celebrating Christmas with her parents abroad) earlier and saw some of the pertinent changes in the processing procedures (NAIA T3). Even my niece was impressed: space-wise---a breeze, uncluttered lobby, affordable food (one always associates airport food with expensive prices). Inside it was a bust of our revered martyr Ninoy Aquino with his immortal words: "The Filipino Is Worth Dying For."

On top of it was an advertisement of two women leisurely bathing in spa (you couldn't miss the faces: they are this country's most photographed innovators) and the time clocks flashed all over the world: Paris, US, Dubai, Istanbul and so on and so forth. This is for an international destination lane.

I have experienced riding in this area twice in my life and I shall confess, it makes travelling educational and extra pertinent. It is, moreover, race sensitive. It has a special area for Muslim women to perform their religious rituals. I could not dissect enough the fact that, again, young people in these islands who have visions larger than search talents and cookie baking did this country extremely good. In just four months!

If a lot of people bicker on them for not owning enough riches, perhaps, the better explanation is: they did not pocket enough for personal gratifications but instead funneled it to public structures. Like the parks and airports: this is a side of this country that actually shows public service can be worldclass (like Singapore), efficient, sane and disciplined. You can choose various rides from the area: bus, taxi (fixed rate) and even jeepneys are accessible if you care to walk far enough. There are safe sidewalks to trod on. I have seen visitors not being harassed at the exit gate for freebies.

We passed by the old terminals and you can thus compare: this could only be the best defense against the raging howlers. I do not know if they can muster enough courage to experience the affordable but posh amenities though: it cuts like a conscience-invader. I think they termed the improvements as AJA (Association of Japanese and Anglo Conglomerate)----or something to that effect. It is ISO-certified (it definitely shows).

The buffet lunch/dinner does not reach three hundred pesos (P300); the personnel courteous and fast. There is no mayhem along the alleys. Every person seems to know where to put himself/herself in that surface of efficiency: toe the line, line-up, be quiet and ask the guards for direction.

Now I know why it is not merely wagging its tail this time. This is Pinoy country at its best.

Thanks Juan, truly, for making us number ONE! We build airports and you can only hack us.

And now, the GOOD news from Manila Bulletin:

A click a day, keeps the guilt away

By LAUREN ACURANTES

December 16, 2010, 9:12pm

GLOBALMOJO - Use your mouse to do some good. Photo from globalmojo.com.

Ever wanted to do some good while just sitting in front of your computer? Several websites now offer you the ability to do just that.

GlobalMojo is a free web browser that has aligned itself with several different internet companies to allow users to donate money to charities of their choice. Users just have to use their services or click on their ads.

A simple search on Yahoo, for instance, would yield a 10-cent profit. Over time you can see those donations add up and before you know it, you have already donated five dollars to the World Wildlife Fund (or whichever charity is close to your heart), all by just browsing and clicking away.

Available as a stand-alone browser or as plug-in for Firefox, the browser is made from Mozilla’s open-source technology so you are assured of its speed and reliability.

So far the charities covered are all based in the US and Canada, but some of them, Ancop Foundation Inc., for example, is a charitable institution aimed at providing quality education for the less fortunate children in the Philippines.

Feed your vocabulary, feed the world
Another website with a heart, Freerice.com, promises to give exactly what it says, free rice.

The people behind this quirky, little online word game promises to donate grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for every question players answer correctly.

The game is played by logging into the website and getting a page that shows a word on top and four others at the bottom. All one has to do is pick the correct meaning of the word. Simple.

The words are also pretty basic so it’s good practice even for elementary school children.

Every question answered correctly garners 10 grains of rice; get five in a row and they will donate 50 in your behalf. The more people who play, the more rice is donated to feed the hungry.

The site also allows users to create groups so you and your friends (and others around the world) can you use it as a worthwhile way to network socially.