President’s Corner

Dear Fellow Manila Rotarians,

Last week was an eye opener for all of us on what the concept of Federalism was all about. Without probing into much detail, (Ret.) Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Chairman of the Consultative Committee to Revise the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, focused on the highlights and salient features of the Draft Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Philippines. As an added value to our members, we will be featuring every week here in our BALITA, the salient features of this draft constitution with minute annotations in comparison to the prevailing fundamental law of the land, for our members to be fully apprised.

Meanwhile, we nominated worthy Manila Rotarians who will be voted upon not later than the last Thursday of September for the Board of Directors who will serve during Rotary Year 2019-2020. Let us elect Manila Rotarians who are willing to give their time and talent to serve Asia’s First Rotary Club. On this note, I wish to commend IPP Jimmie Policarpio, Chair of the COMELEC, and his entire COMELEC, for an orderly conduct of nominations. He likewise caused the publication of the guidelines for our elections to which we should give a serious thought.

On the service front, we were able to collect a total of Php 37,800.00 from our voluntary fund drive last week for the typhoon victims in Kerala, India. We shall turnover this amount to the Embassy of India in the Philippines through Rtn. Johnny Chotrani.

Likewise, we have began our planning for the Alay Lakad 2018 which takes place on September 23, 2018 and I wish to exhort our members to join us in this endeavor as our strength in numbers will show the might of our club, especially, this centennial year. Let us show our full support to Alay Lakad Club Chair Rtn. Dong Benedicto, Alay Lakad Rotary District Representative PD Oscar del Rosario and ALAY LAKAD Foundation President SDG/PP Frank Evaristo as all these efforts would go to the marginalized youth of our country.

Today, we welcome to our club, Prof. Dindo Manhit, CEO and Managing Partner of Stratbase Consultancy, Inc. as he probes into the thought patterns of President Duterte. It will certainly be an interesting talk which all of us should never miss.

On our centennial projects, I have issued a separate appeal for all of you to participate in the project of your choice which I have caused to publish here in our BALITA. Let us bear in mind that in the staging of a colossal undertaking such as our centennial, great things in Rotary are never done by one person alone, but, by a team of Rotarians working together towards a common goal.

In ONE CENTURY ONE MISSION ONE ROTARY, I remain.