President’s Corner

Dear Fellow Manila Rotarians,

Today’s fireside chat Is anticipated to be very productive and successful. I would like to give gratitude and thanks in behalf of the Rotary club to Tito, Jujut and Archit for taking the time and effort to put this program together. It is also very magnanimous for Union Bank to host this event. I expect to come out of this meeting and fireside chat with much more knowledge on the complexities of digital banking.

How I wish that my most respected friend and mentor, Justin, was with us today to see what has become of his son. I wish Tito would attend our meetings more often. He would definitely be a big asset to the club.

There are several meetings of great importance that would give all honor to the presence of Union Bank and Justo “Tito” Ortiz, Jr. One would be the speech of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor on January 9. I would welcome the opportunity for Union Bank to host this meeting and for Tito Ortiz to introduce the Guest of Honor and Speaker. Another would be the economic briefing of Dr. Bernie Villegas who will discuss the many facets and complexities of today’s local, regional and international economies, mostly, on how they affect our banking system and economy. This very important meeting will take place on September 5.

Immediately after the fireside chat, we are off to a wonderful fellowship of the battle of world famous singing sensations against the singing pretenders of the Elks Club. Please get your tickets now. We still have about twenty. To be clear, all ticket sales proceeds, 100%, go to the Rotary piggy bank. All cost of this production is being paid by the Elks Club in an effort to unseat our World Famous champion singers.

I would like to give gratitude to all the efforts of Albert Alday and Rene Policarpio in the great job that they have done in our weekly Balita. They have made it smaller and more formative. And most important, they have initiated an advertising program that will pay for the cost of the Balita. Great work and fantastic leadership done by these two gentlemen.

I would be remiss in my duties if I forget to thank and give gratitude to Jason for the terrific job he did in putting up a fantastic show on our fellowship. Jason, I’ve had numerous requests for this to be repeated on a monthly basis. At 500 pesos and all we can drink and eat, dance and sing, laugh and smile, how could we go wrong. Amazing!

I call upon all of you to please make an effort to bring in more members. We really have to bring in more. And we have to call upon all our existing members to attend our wonderful program courtesy of our Chairman and Past President Jimmie.

In the spirit of Rotary, Jackie