By Tonette Orejas for PNN
GUAGUA, Pampanga— On Easter Monday shortly before attending his classes at the Pampanga State University, Tristan “TJ” Limin waited by the roadside in Guagua town, wearing his uniform and ID, handing out green plastic bags.
Arms up, the third year engineering student displayed and waved his white placard.
On it was handwritten: “Free rice sa jeepney drivers.”
Several drivers took the green bags, packed with three kilograms of regularly milled rice.
“They never asked me anything. All they did was thanked me,” Limin, 21, shared.
All in all, he gave out 20 packs. He bought the rice from out of his own savings scrimped from his school allowance. His mother gave portions of rice from her own bin. It was also his mom who helped in the repacking.
Asked what prompted him to share, he related this: “I rode a jeep to school and heard the driver rant to a gasoline station attendant how his little earnings would be spent on expensive fuel.”
At that moment, he remembered handing out ₱100 to the driver.
“At first I wanted to give free lunch but I opted to give rice instead,” he added.
A relative of his said he was not surprised by the Good Samaritan act of Limin. Last December, he distributed Jollibee meals to more than 20 kids.
“I just want to spread kindness,” said the young man from Barangay Santo Niño, the birthplace of the first Filipino cardinal, Rufino Jiao Santos.