In hindsight, it was a surprisingly poignant moment.
After she was rejected as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources back in May, Gina Lopez displayed a touch of resilience when she chose to hide her obvious disappointment by doing an impromptu song number.
In front of reporters, Lopez wore a steely expression as she belted out "I Believe I Can Fly" and called on her supporters to sing with her, a video clip of which went viral at the time just because of the sheer randomness of it.
Fast forward to Wednesday night and Lopez again had to dust off her favorite song for an audience. She was on "Tonight with Boy Abunda" and was asked to sing a few lines of the R. Kelly classic.
She did, but this time also explaining why she's so fond of the R&B/soul tune that appears on the Michael Jordan movie "Space Jam."
"That's a song for the Filipino," Lopez reasoned.
"Because we're so colonized and we think we're small. But if you feel small, you will think small, dream small, and will do small. We're not small! We should believe we can fly."
Lopez appeared on the late-night talk show to promote "G Diaries," her new travel show on the environment.
Directed by Will Harper, a director who once worked with Oprah, it airs on ANC, Lifestyle Network, and ABS-CBN (Saturday mornings).
In explaining how she came to care so much about preserving the environment, Lopez said: "It's actually increased many, many times over and it actually comes from meditation.
"Because when you meditate, you go inside. And when you make the mind still, you can feel more -- mas mafi-feel mo iyong mga tao, you feel the suffering more. And if you feel people, you can't not feel the environment because it goes together."