President’s Corner

Dear Fellow Manila Rotarians,

Last week, Prof. Dindo Manhit, gave us an insightful walk through on the thought patterns of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte through his “Dutertismo”. With graphs to support his evidence-based analysis, Prof. Dindo, definitely, caught everyone’s attention as this excited the interest of my fellow Manila Rotarians to propound mind-boggling questions during the open forum to the delight of all who attended.

On the other hand, we held a meeting of our hardworking Steering Committee last August 30, 2018 where updates were made on the different centennial projects. In particular, updates on marketing and pricing strategies were discussed concerning the centennial commemorative stamps, updates on completed manuscripts of the centennial coffee table book and guidelines on prominent rotarians were taken up in detail, updates on Seeds of Change by Rotary Club of Manila pertaining to the OKADA tree planting and brochure creations were scheduled, a new project, the Rotary Club of Manila Centennial Choral Competion, has been hatched and updates on Boy Scouts of the Philippines tie up’s have all been discussed.

Last September 4, 2018, we paid a courtesy call on DepEd officials, Cristine Magboo, Focal Person for Culture and Arts of the Bureau of Curriculum Development and Usec. Lorna Dig-Dino, Ph.D. (Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction) on involving the DepEd in our Rotary Club of Manila Centennial Choral Competition. On this note, I have been holding weekly meetings regarding these matters in order to ensure the success of our centennial year. Rest assured, your Steering Committee is doing its best to make this Centennial Year truly a Rotary Year to remember.

Let us bear in mind that the Centennial Year of our club and that of the Rotary movement in the Philippines and in Asia are colossal undertakings requiring full cooperation as great things in Rotary are never done by a single Rotarian, but, by a team of Rotarians acting in unison towards a common goal. Let us all get involved and participate.

On the international front, I wish to invite my fellow Manila Rotarians to honor the invitations of our sister clubs and attend their respective anniversaries and important functions as we endeavor to reciprocally invite them to our Centennial.

On a lighter note, I wish to congratulate both Dir. Bobby Joseph and Rtn. Farid Schoucair for the successful staging of the 28th SKAL International Tourism Personality Awards last August 30, 2018 at the Ballroom of the New World Makati Hotel in Makati where many Manila Rotarians were in attendance. Also, I likewise convey my heartfelt thanks to Dir. Jackie Rodriguez, the Fellowship Chair, for organizing the Birthday Fellowship in honor of Rtn. Roy Zosa last August 29, 2018 at the Elks Club in Makati City where many of our fellow Manila Rotarians attended.

Speaking of tourism, our club is very much fortunate to have today Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat of the Department of Tourism as she talks about the plans and programs of her department. This is a talk Manila Rotarians should not miss.

In a nutshell, let us all exert our efforts for the success of 100 years of the Rotary Club of Manila. The best is yet to come.

In ONE CENTURY ONE MISSION ONE ROTARY, I remain.