Small voices that opened our hearts to Christmas’ true meaning

MANILA, Philippines – A choral group that has been giving toys and food for the traditional Noche Buena feast to their poorer neighbors for 20 years paid a visit to the INQUIRER.net office to sing carols Thursday.

The “Munting Tinig” (Small Voice) choral group of Barangay (village) 18, Caloocan City uses the money they earn from their carolling to buy the toys and food, said Orlando Maunio, the founder and arranger, composer of their songs.

They would go around from December 16 to 23 singing carols to earn money and “on the 24^th of December, we would sing carols to our poorest neighbors and then we would give our gifts to them,” he said in the exclusive interview.

They used to sing their songs to their neighbors and nearby villages but got very small amounts and the children got tired from making the rounds.

They then decided to visit offices. The first was Caloocan City hall in Dec. 15, 2005 when they were chanced upon by a Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter who interviewed them and wrote a story. The rest has since become Christmas history.

Since then they would come to banks and other organizations and foundations to carol.

Maunio shared one instance when they managed to give P10,000 worth of toys to 400 children in their community.

Later on, they bought cheaper toys so they can give to more children. “We thought that even though the toy was cheap, when its Christmas, the children would become happy,” Maunio said.

“What is important is you see the child happy [with the toy],” he added.

Their current group is composed of 15 children from their community. In 1991, when the group was founded, they had only 9 members.

Many children had joined and left the group since then, mainly because they had grown up and felt they were too old for carolling.

Some of the current members are sons and daughters of former members who had enjoyed their time with the group and wanted to continue helping their cause.

“They entrusted us with their children in order to continue the cause of our organization,” he said.

Maunio said that they would continue with their small way of sharing the spirit of Christmas to others who are in need.

“Sing our songs [and] have the meanings of our songs reach others, that’s good enough,” Maunio said.