THAT was one long month, wasn't it?
Still suffering from the lethargy that too much eating over the holidays bring, we had to be at our best to welcome Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and wife last January 12 to 13, whose visit was but a rumor when the Japan Air Force One landed at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport last December 20, 2016 for a test flight.
From rumors and wild talks to an unprecedented visit of the President's middle-class subdivision house and other activities dressed in a short-sleeved polo shirt, a very unusual sight indeed of the Japan Prime Minister, in just 23 days.
Soon after, there was the launching of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) chairmanship on January 16 that saw the city hosting Asean ministers followed by the one-day visit of 29 Miss Universe 2016 candidates to key places in Davao City, and then... the Miss Universe coronation that held us entranced in front of our television on Monday, January 30.
All these in one month on top of calamities that the government has been attending to all the while, and all the distractions Senate probes could have on our police forces.
What is apparent from all these is that the Philippine Government is finally running like a well-oiled machine.
Finally, each department is attending to their concerns and not jumping at every opportunity to be caught on camera, even if such opportunity isn't related to their jobs.
What we can do as citizens is to support whatever programs or projects the different agencies of government may be bringing over to us to participate in, whether it be through the local government unit or a national government agency. We cannot afford to let this opportunity go to waste and allow ourselves to be brought back to a government that only served its own officials' interests.
We have had long years of having a government that only takes care of the officials' pockets and love lives, and now we are witnessing how a government should have been working all along, that five major activities can be embarked on in one month on top of regular concerns like disaster reduction and management. Let's be part of this government, and let this be the standard by which we will measure all others who want to govern us in the future.
By the way, for those still griping over Miss Universe, how Miss Philippines Maxine Medina fared, and how your bets didn't fare well? That is just how it goes. It's a contest, only one can win the crown coveted by almost a hundred, and not one of them is you.