IN YESTERDAY'S historic Monday flag raising rites, several moments unraveled one after the other. Historic, we say, because it's the first flag ceremony attended and led by Pampanga's first woman chief executive, Governor Lilia "Nanay Baby" Pineda.
Historic, we say, because after three years, or putting it in a safer tone, Vice Governor Joseller "Yeng" Guiao and all members of the Provincial Board, new and reelected, were one in singing the national anthem and the Hymno Kapampangan, with feelings at that.
Never has the province seen at the time of the Panlilio administration such a force, the executive and the legislative, getting their acts together for the Kapampangans, starting right at the onset of the week.
Precisely, the mother of the province sounded her call once more for the hundreds of Capitol employees to work together. And the punch, a humble governor begging not to be treated a superior, but a "Nanay," a mother looking after her brood of public servants.
"Call me Nanay. And if you have personal problems, please do not hesitate to see me," so declared Governor Pineda with sincerity. For starters? A promise to have the long delayed Christmas bonuses, with "interest," of the 2,100 Capitol workers released in two weeks, relayed by an enthusiastic Vice Governor Guiao whom, from all looks of it, has found the right partner in governance.
The challenge for Governor Pineda now, as she admitted, was to work for the welfare of Kapampangans: "But I cannot do it alone. We must unite for us to move ahead."
If the attendance, the applause and the smiles on the faces of the Capitol people were to be the signs of that bright day, the "Nanay" would definitely, without a doubt, make it. The light of the house, or better the Capitol, like a loving mother, is getting the act together. As simple as that.