President’s Corner

Dear Fellow Manila Rotarians,

Last week, our club, in the interest of balanced views, had Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. as speaker where he enlightened us on the disadvantages of a Federal system after extolling our club in celebration of our 100 years and our role in the Rotary movement, both in the Philippines and in Asia. The Former Chief Justice delivered his views on the matter in an objective manner so as to present the other side of the coin on this matter.

On the international relations front, I wish to commend Chairman PD Ed Lee in taking the lead in inviting our fellow Rotarians to join our club’s delegation, both to the Rotary Club of Taipei’s 70th Charter Anniversary and to the Rotary Club of Kowloon East’s 49th Anniversary Fund Raising Ball. Our presence in these events presents a unique opportunity for us to invite them to our centennial culminating activities.

On The Rotary Foundation front, I wish to commend the Manila Rotarians who attended the Global Grant Workshop last October 13, 2018, namely, Club Secretary Alvin Lacambacal, AS Rene Policarpio, DE/Treasurer Nicky Villaseñor, DG Rudy Bediones, ISDG/DE/Dir. Albert Alday (Club TRF Chair), Rtn. Zdenek Jankovsky, PE/Dir. Jackie Rodriguez and SDG/VP Lance Masters (Club Grant Stewardship Chair) as well as our ES Anna Kun-Toledo. We had the largest delegation during that workshop. It is my fervent hope that the knowledge imparted to them will immensely help in our club in securing our global grants. In related news, I wish to inform all of you that we had been invited to participate in the global grant of our sister club, the Rotary Club of Bangkok. On this note, I have requested ISDG/DE/Dir. Albert Alday, the Chair of The Rotary Foundation for our club, to study and review the global grant proposal and forthwith, make his recommendations for the approval of the Board.

On our regular club projects, I wish to invite everyone to the Halloween Party at the Hospicio de San Jose on October 25, 2018 and let us make our community happy by bringing Halloween cheers.

With respect to our community service projects, I laud the efforts of Rtn. Willie Peliño, who, with my initiative in rekindling ties with our daughter club, the Rotary Club of Baguio, was able to get the generous support of a Singaporean firm, Subana Jurong, for the relief bags we distributed in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Baguio for the victims of Typhoon Ompong which battered Northern Luzon last September.

On the fellowship front, I wish to thank our German and other European members of our club led by Chair PSAA Gunter Matschuck for a very successful centennial edition of the Rotary Club of Manila Oktoberfest last night, October 17, 2018, at the German Club in Makati City where Manila Rotarians and prospective members drank and sang to their heart’s delight.

On the centennial projects front, I wish to commend the Rotary Club of Manila Centennial Chorale Competition Committee for giving it a go with respect to the organizational meeting after conferring with DepEd and the other Rotary districts. With respect to Seeds of Change by Rotary Club of Manila, the trees we planted during our Tree Planting last September 28, 2018 along Okada Road are now growing.

Today, we welcome our Guest of Honor and Speaker Secretary Leonor Briones of the Department of Education. She will enlighten us on the present state of Philippine education.

As I have said, great things in Rotary are never done by a single person, but, by a team of Rotarians working together towards a common goal as we should bear in mind that our centennial celebration is a colossal undertaking.

Under ONE CENTURY, in furtherance of ONE MISSION, towards ONE ROTARY, I remain.