President Elect Training Seminar 2 (PETS2) at Widus, Pampanga

Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday March 9-11, President-Elect Susing Pineda, along with all of his classmate District PE’s, were called to participate in the Rotary International required President-elect Training Seminar, part 2. The primary purpose of the conference is for presidents-elect to learn their roles and to work with District Assistant Governors in establishing goals for the ensuing Rotary Year. These purposes are fulfilled through a series of seminars throughout the conference. A secondary purpose is to develop genuine friendships among the class of fellow presidents, so that they have each other as additional resources throughout the year and into the future. The bonding is accomplished through some participation in interactive learning, but especially in the evening themed fellowship dinner-dances. The leader of the conference is the District Governor-Elect.

The conference was called to order by current DG Loy Cosico, who gave an inspirational kick-off speech. Incoming Chief Governor’s Aid PP Mark Eugene Tan had the privilege and honor to introduce our own PP/DGE Rudy Bediones. Rudy started with a music driven ascent to the podium where he delivered the opening plenary speech. At that time, he spoke of the importance and significance of our centennial, and of the district goals and club challenges for this year. The entire district leadership team is expected to participate, so I was there in my role as Senior Deputy Governor - Chair for Centennial Coordination. It is already useful for the various clubs to learn of the coordination role, because Gov Rudy is asking all district clubs to participate in and to create Centennial Events. This is specified in the Club and District Goals for the year. I advised all the clubs of our forthcoming fund-raiser, “Spamalot,” and encouraged them to participate. Rudy also spoke of lessons learned at the international assembly, which he attended in San Diego with incoming RI President Barry Rassin.

The PETS Training Overview was delivered by District Trainer PDG Ernie Choa. The district trainer is an RI appointment, not made by the district. We are very fortunate to have a man of such enormous talent and experience as PDG Ernie, whose role is not only to train district and club leaders, but also to continue the training of the governor himself. Our much-beloved and highly respected PP, PDG Obet Pagdanganan is serving as District Membership Chair, and he gave a great speech to inspire the presidents to do their best in attracting and retaining members. The conference was hosted by RC Bagumbayan Manila, under PETS Chair PP Boy Kaw, who shared the “House Rules.”

Following lunch, the seminars started in earnest with breakout sessions on Planning for the year, strategic planning principles, presidential responsibilities, running meetings, and running the club. These sessions were facilitated by members of the district training team, including Incoming District Secretary Vilma Vinluan, Area Region 7a Assistant Coordinator Rahms Ciriaco, incoming SDG for Programs Robert Koa, Incoming SDG Chief of Staff Edwin Seymour Chiu, and PP Armin Demetillo. PDG (Ambassador & General) Paco Atayde gave an overview of Rotary Protocol, and we were ready to end the seminars for the day and proceed to hotel registration, which was an unmitigated disaster. It seemed that the hotel, supposedly the only 5-star resort in Pampanga, had messed up room assignments and it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to register all the participants. The hotel had overbooked, and ended up sending some participants to other hotels, condemning them to use shuttles to get back and forth. Ugh! We assembled at 7:00 pm for our “Havana Nights” dinner and dance fellowship. Everyone was in Cubano attire, with some area teams in common costumes. Teams of presidents had rehearsed dance skits, which were presented to the great delight of all. Dancing continued until the evening’s end, with great participation and much fun for all.