Profile of Guest Speaker: PDG Virgilio G. Farcon Jr.

PDG Virgilio Farcon Jr. or “Jun” as he is fondly called is a dedicated and committed leader and servant of our beloved organization. He proudly calls himself a “Rotary baby” because he spent more than three fourths of his life pursuing his journey in Rotary service starting as early as 1975 when he was still in high school as an Interactor. He crossed over the Rotaract movement where he served as Charter President of the Rotaract Club of Marikina North in 1976. He served as the District Rotaract Representative in 1982 at the age of 23 in what used to be District 380 whose territory covers from Aparri, Cagayan all the way to Quezon City. He accepted the call of service and became a Rotarian at the young age of 25. He became the President of his club, RC Marikina, during RY 1996-97 at the age of 36 and was adjudged as the Most Outstanding Rotary Club President of District 3800. It was also during the same year where he served as the PETS Chairman of his own batch of presidents and the District Chair for New Generation and Vice Chair for Urban Peace. He was selected as the official delegate of the Philippines in the Urban Peace Conference held in Kobe, Japan whose Convenor was PRID Rafael Hechanova in August 1996.

PDG Jun Farcon’s passion and love for Rotary did not stop there as he went on to serve in higher positions and important committees at the district level. He practically served all District Governors year in and year out until he was elected to the highest position and served as District Governor during RY 2010-2011. He was one of four district governors around the world who came from Rotaract and the first district governor in the Philippines who came from the ranks of Interact and Rotaract, thus earning him the title as the first New Generation Governor of the Philippines.

His major accomplishments as District Governor include among others the organization of the first Eclub in the Philippines, the Rotary eclub of San Juan; record breaking TRF Contributions of his district amounting to $355,000.00, the highest in Zone 7A; a per capita of $149, the highest in Zone 7A, thus earning his district the recognition of TRF Foundation Cup champion for garnering the highest per capita in the Philippines and Indonesia. District 3800 was also recognized as the first 100% all clubs giving district in the Philippines by RRFC Roberto Viray and the first district which received 49 EREY Club Awards in a single year with 75% of the active Rotarians in the district giving to the foundation. On membership, his district emerged as the highest growth rate in the Philippines. During the 2011 New Orleans International Convention, Past RI President Ray Klinginsmith personally requested for the playing of the District 3800 Global Music Video during a jampacked plenary session on the third day of the convention whose main speaker at that time was Bill Gates of Microsoft. It was a day to remember as Rotarians from the Philippines stood very tall in the eyes of the Rotarian delegates coming from different countries who attended the convention when the District 3800 Global Music Video was played to the delight and warm applause of the more than 20,000 delegates who attended the plenary session.

At present, PDG Jun Farcon is serving as Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator for Zone 10A Philippines and is currently a Major Donor Level 3. He served as ARRFC from RY 2016 to 2018. He was part of the Rotary Coordinator Team for four consecutive years (RY 2013-16). He was adjudged as the Most Outstanding DGR-PRM in RY 2012-13 where District 3800 was awarded seven out of the eight major PR awards. He also served as Chairman of the Board and Treasurer of the Philippine Rotary Magazine Foundation, Inc., the publisher of the Philippine Rotary magazine. He served as the first Chair of the Philippine Rotary Open, a golf fellowship among the ten districts in the Philippines which was started in 2013. He was the charter president of the Philippine Rotary Friendship and Golfing Fellowship, Inc., a Past Chairman of the Board of Trustees and is now serving as Adviser of the nationwide association of golfing Rotarians from the ten districts of the Philippines. His love for the sport of golf paved the way for his continuous hosting of the annual Jun Farcon Birthday Golf Tournament now on its 26th year. The proceeds of the golf tournament are given to his favorite charities and service projects.

PDG Jun Farcon is happily married to the International Board Director of Inner Wheel International and Past National President of the Inner Wheel Clubs of the Philippines, Zenaida “Zeny” Farcon. She also served as Chair of the Spouses Participation for five times, under PDGs Arsenio Tanco, Santos Chua, Jose Peralta, Efren De Guzman and her own husband, PDG Jun Farcon. They are blessed with three (3) children, Jayjay, the eldest who is a Certified Public Accountant and graduate of De La Salle College Antipolo. He worked as Senior Auditor at the Sycip Gorres Velayo and Company for four years and presently enrolled as a fourth year student at the FEU College of Law; Jojo, a Juris Doctor graduate of Ateneo School of Law is a Senior Associate Lawyer working with Villaraza and Angangco law Firm. The youngest is Zarah, a Communication Arts graduate of Ateneo de Manila and who is presently into creative writing and a free-lance writer. Zarah is a graduating law student at the Ateneo Law School.

While it would seem that PDG Jun Farcon is very busy and preoccupied with the practice of his profession as a CPA-Lawyer, Rotary, Knights of Columbus, Couples for Christ and others, he makes it a point that his family comes first. He makes it a point to continue with the family tradition of sharing Rotary to the family as what his parents, PP Ver Farcon of RC Marikina and PP Ludy Farcon of RC San Juan did to him and his siblings. He also shared Rotary to his eldest son, Jayjay (34 years old), Jojo (32 years old) and youngest daughter, Zarah (29 years old) who are all Paul Harris Fellows and charter members of the Rotary e-Club of Marikina.