District Awards 2015

Dressed the extravagant style costumes of “The Great Gatsby,” more than 600 Rotarians representing now 99 clubs from our arrived in grand style for Rotary District 3810’s annual Awards and Recognition Night. The venue of was the beautifully renovated Fiesta Pavilion of the Philippine’s classically elegant Manila Hotel, now featuring a state of the art and very dramatic lighting system, among many other improvements. Guests registered then greeted friends from throughout the district, enjoying a variety of premium pours and salty snacks.

As we entered the grand ballroom, we were all literally blown away by the phenomenal sounds of the country’s top and most deservedly famous AMP big band, featuring fourteen premier musicians playing their own fantastic arrangements of the classic big band sounds spanning the swing music era from the 1920’s through the 1990’s. Led by Mel Villena, ABS-CBN television host of reality show “Twist and Shout.”

Prior to dinner, District Governor Edmond Aguilar called the conclave to order, and we all rose for the entry of colors, National Anthem, and Doxology. Welcoming remarks were offered by Event Chairperson PP Lucie Medina followed by the Governor’s address. Dinner was served (forgive me for omitting details; banquet food, even at a premier hotel, is seldom worth writing about). The awarding ceremony ensued and actually took more than four hours, from about seven o’clock to after eleven p.m. In total, more than seventy major awards were presented to the winners in several categories and often also by each of the four geographic areas in the district. Awards were presented for seven categories of club administration, for four categories of vocational service, for seven categories of community service, for seven categories of youth service, for two categories of international service, for five categories of membership, for four categories in the Rotary Foundation, one award in public imaging, for outstanding rookie club and president, and outstanding established club and president. There were special awards for District Conference attendance, for membership gains, for Business conference participation, for Rotary Magazine subscriptions, and for sponsoring district events.

Your club was represented by DGE Obet Pagdanganan, ICOS PP Rudy Bediones, Pres Frank Evaristo (and Rotary Ann Vicky Montilla), PP Cesar Ubaldo, PE Ebot Tan, VP Teddy Ocampo, Dir Amading Valdez, Dir Oscar del Rosario, Sec. Albert Alday, SAA Jimmy Cabase, and yours truly, PVP Lance Masters. District leaders including RID Guiller Tumangan, District Governor Edmond Aguilar and PDG Paco Atayde joined us for this memory photo.

Your club was honored to receive a total of eighteen awards, including six commendations for being major sponsors or co-sponsors of District wide events. The top area awards the club received were for “Best Club in Meetings,” “Best Club Bulletin,” “Best Water Sanitation Project,” and “Best Economic and Community Development Program.” The club also received district-wide awards for Outstanding Attendance at DISCON, recognition of Rice Donations, and for ten continuous years of club subscription to the Philippine Rotary Magazine.

The culmination of the evening was the moment when our own “Best Class” President Frank Evaristo was honored as area “Most Outstanding Club President” and RCM was recognized as the “Most Outstanding Club.”

Rotary is all about “Putting Service Above Self.” It’s not about awards and recognition; we would certainly do everything we have done, without any ambition for recognition or reward. Never-the-less, it felt really good to receive the recognition of our peers and leaders. The awards are on display today and will become part of our permanent collection housed in our club’s conference room. If you haven’t visited the club’s office, you are encouraged to go see the hundreds of awards received over the years, and view the pictures of past presidents who include some of the most famous men in Philippine history. You will feel ever more proud to be a member this distinguished club. Congratulations to President Frank and to all those whose hard work did good in the name of Rotary and again brought honor to our club. Mabuhay!