Inaugural Message

RI Director Guiller Tumangan, District Governor Obet Pagdanganan, Past District Governors, District Governors Elect and Nominees, District Officers, Past District Officers, My Classmates, the World Class Presidents, Distinguished guests, Fellow Manila Rotarians, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

I am deeply honored to accept today the position of President of the Rotary of Club of Manila, the first Rotary Club in Asia.

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge and recognize the many achievements of PP Frank Evaristo and our club’s Board of Directors for last year. He and the previous Board of Directors of our Club have indeed accomplished so much that we in our Club can be proud of.

With respect to our plans for this Rotary Year 2015-2016, I invite your attention to the list of activities which has been printed in the souvenir program for today, as well as in the Balita magazine distributed today. I would, however, like to stress that I intend to focus much of my time and efforts this coming Rotary Year on:

1. membership development and retention;

2. membership obligations; and

3. membership benefits.

I believe that the membership of any Rotary club, including our’s, sets it apart from any other Rotary club, and that the quality of any club’s membership will define its ability and competency to meet the ideals and objectives of Rotary.

Our Club used to have more than 400 members. Today, we count only about 220 members. I would like our Club’s membership to increase to approximately 400 members again during my term. In this connection, I will be sending out a personal request and appeal to each and every Manila Rotarian for him to identify at least one (1) quality recruit within the next 3 months who we can consider for invitation and acceptance into our Club. I am sure that each Manila Rotarian can easily think of more one quality recruit. Therefore, I do not believe that my request will be taken as unreasonable or too difficult to comply with. If each one of us can bring in at least one quality member this year, we will be able to increase our membership to 400 by the end of this Rotary Year 2015-2016. Good quality members are the life blood of every Rotary club and I want our Club to have the best, the most competent, and the most resourceful within our midst.

At the same time, it would like to remind all our existing members that all of us should comply with the commitments and obligations we made when we joined our Club, particularly our commitment to actively participate in our Club’s activities. Also, I would like to strengthen the orientation process of new members so as to ensure that it will be made very clear to all new members as to what is expected of them as Manila Rotarians.

Furthermore, I would like to increase and improve the benefits that will be made available to our Club’s members, such as providing better avenues for service, better luncheon meeting speakers, and better fellowship and networking opportunities.

Aside from the aforementioned membership development efforts, I would like to strengthen and improve the public image of our Club and ensure that our reputation as the first and most respected Rotary club in the country is not only maintained, but improved.

I urge all Manila Rotarians to join and support us in all our undertakings and activities this Rotary year. If we are united in our efforts, I sincerely believe that there is nothing that we cannot achieve and accomplish.

Thank you for coming this afternoon and for participating in these induction ceremonies. I look forward to a fruitful and rewarding Rotary Year and to helping our Club live up to Rotary’s motto: “Service Above Self” and to enabling each of our members truly become “A Gift to the World”.

DG Obet Pagdanganan developed a cheer for this Rotary Year, and it goes like this: “District 3810: NUMERO UNO! World Class Team: HANDOG SA MUNDO!” I would like to add a few lines to the cheer applicable to the Rotary Club of Manila, the first Rotary Club in Asia, as follows: “District 3810: NUMERO UNO! World Class Team: HANDOG SA MUNDO! Rotary Club of Manila: UNA SA LAHAT!”

Mabuhay ang Rotary Club of Manila! Mabuhay tayong lahat! Maraming salamat po.