President's Corner

Greetings my dear RCM Brothers!

“LAST 2 MINUTES!” is usually the pressure call of a tight basketball game… In this case, we are down to our last two meetings. As we turn a new Rotary leaf, we will be having the handover rites for our RCManila Foundation, Inc. with a new band of leaders today who were carefully selected and voted into office. These fine gentlemen are tasked to bring our foundation to its optimum operational level in the incoming Rotary year.

With RCManila Foundation, Inc. Chairman and Rotary Club of Manila Programs Committee Chairman PE/PVP Hermie Esguerra having set up the proverbial ducks for the foundation this year coupled with the new set of officers, headed by Incoming RCManila Foundation, Inc. Chairman and Rotary Club of Manila PD Pepo Nuñez and very ably skippered by incoming RCManila Foundation, Inc. President and Rotary Club of Manila PT Lito Sibayan, this group will contextualize the funding needs of our club with a new dynamism needed for the new normal we are all anticipating.

I spoke to PD Nick Locsin, the Chairman of the Circle of Centennial Rotary Clubs, yesterday who gave me an update of our club’s participation in the recently concluded Houston Rotary International Convention. I have asked him to give us all an update during this meeting if possible.

A handful of good news, indeed! We will formally launch the Rotary Club of Manila Educational Assistance Program (REAP) “Study Now Pay Later” Program that RCManila Foundation, Inc. President and Rotary Club of Manila PP Susing Pineda (Centennial President) and his team have been working on for the past weeks, on June 28, 2022 at 12:00 pm. This is a timely program for the dislocated families/students who have had to stop college enrollment due to the pandemic and exacerbated by the Ukraine situation.

Although we are maintaining our decision to hold once a month, a face to face meeting with Zoom for the rest of the month, we will need to tweak this with our second face to face meeting next week for our last General Membership Meeting for RY 2021-2022 where our Club Awards and Valedictory Meeting takes place, including, my Valedictory Speech! Hope to see you all there next week!

May God bless us all! Humbly yours in Rotary, FSZ