I AM amazed.
When people – individually, collectively – act fast. And whenever it is a response to something really needed.
This piece is meant to express both a sense of awe and appreciation to some people who know how to respond on time. It is also a recognition of that high sense of public relations (PR) where the end-result has always been the establishment of goodwill and keeping it intact.
I have been in PR and comms practice and believe you me, I know how important it is to make yourself available. Whether for inquiries, for information, for facts and figures, even for personal needs. For dinners, lunches and coffee chats, even for mere “hello” or “hi” where such greetings on any messaging platform are always valuable.
Let me make a quick rundown of appreciation of people who have been so helpful in the past month or so.
PLDT and its tech people. Fellow Kapampangan Ernest Roland Mendoza who oversees technical concerns covering Pampanga and the rest of Northern Luzon areas is a man of action. That is an understatement. Especially when his team really moves so swiftly towards certain concerns on internet connection whether new or existing accounts.
Fondly called Merdoc, I find him like a real “doc” whenever some concerns are raised to his office. Case in point is the new account of Wency Marin of New Media Pampanga installed some months ago. There was no longer a slot in fiber optic junction boxes on lamp posts in Wency’s residential area. Did that serve a problem to PLDT Home? Nope, not at all as Merdoc and team did a “surgery” of things. They operated on to bring life to this “patient”.
The result? It was not just fiber connection for Wency’s household. It was such a big help to his children in their school lessons especially broadband-hungry CAD application being used by one of them in architecture/engineering course.
There are similar stories too like that of Wency’s. I happen to know one who encountered the same or pretty similar case. But this one is more than just lack of “slots” on lamp posts. It was total lack of fiber in the subdivision.
Oh boy, to the applicant’s surprise, PLDT tech people (Merdoc and men) installed fiber lines from the provincial highway all the way to the newly completed village. This reminded me of my late mother’s favorite saying “if there is a will, there is a way”. Yes, it is a matter of making things happen.
Of course, all these prompt actions emanate from PLDT leadership – Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, COO and EVP Butch Jimenez, PLDT Home head and SVP John Palanca. Not to mention the support of the beauteous Cheryl Maxine Loyola, AVP and head of PR, her assistants Daphne, Marist and Sarah of PLDT Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Group. How we miss our good friend Wo Rosete of Smart who trailblazed for PLDT some 20 years back. This guy is one solid performer and his PR is just absolutely amazing. Too bad, he was reassigned somewhere.
I remember contacting Merdoc on many other instances in the past. They were not exactly about asking the guy for my personal account with PLDT. But in many cases, some were about other media colleagues, while some were about people who we did not from Adam. Whether they are known to his team or not, the action has always been known – and that is prompt handling and resolution of cases brought to his office.
Also highly recognizable are the PR work of our friends at BCDA, Philippine Airlines, LIPAD, Selrahco PR Consulting…(To be continued)
