The Rotary Balita no. 757 (November 4, 1954).

Dear Presidents and Secretaries:
GREETINGS: Back home after a month of official visits to twenty-six of the twenty-nine Clubs of the District, here I am greeting you again and wishing you continued success in the performance of your Rotary duties during the remaining nine months of our Year. I want to tell you how much I enjoyed meeting you and visiting with your members during my official visit to your Clubs. I am highly satisfied with what I found in most of the Clubs visited. There is a very evident increase in interest and enthusiasm in most of the Clubs resulting in a much improved Rotary performance. If this is kept up throughout the year, as I expect it will be, ours will indeed be a Golden Year for Rotary.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE OFFICIAL VISITS:
Clubs Not Yet Visited: 3
Total Clubs Visited: 26
Provisional Clubs Organized: 5

CLUB ASSEMBLIES:
The Club Assemblies held during the time of the official visits were on the whole very well attended and well conducted meetings. Most of the Clubs had very well-prepared committee reports. The Rotary Clubs of Iloilo, Dipolog and Cagayan de Oro had submitted carefully bound reports which indicated real genuine interest. The plans and projects for the year were clearly laid out and presented, and the discussions were held on a high level. On the whole the Assemblies reflected the activities and enthusiasm of the individual Clubs and gave the District Governor the chance to determine how Rotary International could help and strengthen them.

FELLOWSHIP:
There has been a marked improvement of fellowship in most of the Clubs visited. There is evident everywhere a very genuine friendship existing among Rotarians, not only of the same Club, but of different Clubs. Special mention should be made of the extraordinary fellowship noted in the Clubs of Bacolod, Iloilo, Malolos, Naga, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio and San Pablo.

CLUB FINANCES:
Most of the Clubs are on a sound financial basis – some have a sizable surplus with which to finance worthwhile projects. There are only very few Clubs that are having some difficulty meeting their obligations and even these are earnestly trying to put their finances in order. I have urged these Clubs to see that their obligations to R. I. and the District are fully met on time and I am convinced that they will. The trouble with some Clubs is that there has not been extra care exerted in the custody budgeting and accounting of Club Funds which is constantly urged upon them to do so. As regards those Clubs that are in arrears in their payment of the Per Capita Tax to R. I. may I refer you to the provisions of Article II, Section 2 of the By-Laws of R. I. regarding Termination of Membership for your guidance and compliance?

ATTENDANCE:
As you will note in the accompanying attendance report there is a very evident improvement in the attendance record of many of the Clubs, particularly the Clubs of Iloilo, Dipolog, Cavite, Oroquieta, Bacolod, Lucena and Batangas. It should be remembered that the attendance record of a Club is a good measure of the activity and performance of that Club and judging from the way attendance averages has been increasing there is an unmistakable improvement in the activity and effectiveness of our Clubs.

There are a number of Rotarians in our District who are very much interested in raising their attendance percentage beyond 100% by attending extra meetings in other Clubs. Although Rotary International takes no official notice of this, there is no reason why encouragement should not be given Rotarians so interested, provided they also include in their interest such other important features as fellowship and improved membership which goes with Rotary attendance. In order that there may be uniformity in the computation of such extra Rotary attendance, I have asked Past-President Bill Dy Liacco who is one of our well-informed Rotarians to study and suggest rules to be followed in such cases.

During the past few months we have always found it difficult to get the attendance reports from some of the Clubs in time to get it included in the Monthly Letter which should get out on the 15th of every month. We had the added expense of having to wire these Clubs for such reports in order to get the Monthly Letter in time. May I again ask these Clubs to help save expenses by air mailing their attendance reports right after their last meeting of the month so that they may reach my office on or before the 10th of every month?

CLASSIFICATION:
I found all our Clubs adhering more or less strictly to the Classification principle which as we know is one of the strong features of Rotary. There are not, however, many Clubs that make regular Classification surveys of their communities so that in some instances the roster of Classification is very much out of date. There are some Clubs where a re-classification of the members is clearly indicated and I have urged them to do this. In all the Clubs I visited there are a lot of classifications available and unfilled so that there is ample room and opportunity for Rotary extension. I have urged the Clubs to include in their roster of Classification enterprises or vocations that are peculiar to their communities and considered worthy, even if such were not found in the suggested Manual of Classification. Rotary, I believe, is pliable enough to fit into the peculiar pattern of our communities without sacrificing any of the essential features and landmarks of the organization.

MEMBERSHIP:
There has been a decrease in membership in many of the Clubs at the start of the Rotary year because of the desire of the new administration to improve the quality of the membership by eliminating undesirable and ineffective members. There is nothing objectionable to this provided we exert every effort in making every member a good and effective Rotarian, and we eliminate only those who fail to make the grade in spite of our efforts. We must not forget that every non-indoctrinated member that leaves the Club or is dropped out is not a good ad for Retary. Happily, however, these Clubs have already more than replaced their losses by taking in new members who we hope will prove to be better ones. There is a very evident interest in practically all the Clubs to more than achieve our minimum goal in increasing Rotary membership this year. Special mention should be made in this regard of such Clubs as Zamboanga, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Lucena, Cavite, Calapan, Laoag and Tarlac where extra efforts are being well exerted in bringing in new and better members into the Clubs.

ROTARY EXTENSION:
The prospect of organizing and chartering new Rotary Clubs appear to be unusually bright this year due to increased appreciation of the ideals and usefulness of Rotary and increased interest on the part of the existing Clubs to survey and sponsor the organization of Clubs in new communities. Although we must be careful in our extension efforts since we want to be sure that we organize Clubs only in communities where Rotary is definitely needed and can succeed, we are willing to risk failures rather than deprive some worthy communities of the blessings of Rotary. I want to commend individual Rotarians and Clubs that are contributing much of their time and efforts along this important line of Rotary activity and assure them of every encouragement and support from my office and the Secretariat and Board of Directors of R. I. For the encouragement and satisfaction of all concerned I would like to report on the status of our extension work as of this date:

(1) Provisional Rotary Club of Lipa City has been reactivated and given one month to prove that she deserves a charter. The Rotary Club of Batangas is the sponsor Club and Rotarian Anong Evangelista is the Special Representative. I expect a definite report from Special Representative Anong on or before October 23, 1951.
(2) The Provisional Rotary Club of Ozamis City has been reactivated and given one month to prove that she deserves a charter. The Rotary Club of Oroquieta is the sponsor Club and Rotarian Moning Guirnela is Extension Aid and Rotarian Maurice Bass is Special Representative. I have assigned special Rotary speakers for four successive meetings of this Club and will expect a definite report from Moning and Maurice on or before November 15, 1951.
(3) A Provisional Rotary Club has been organized in Butuan, Agusan, under the sponsorship of the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro. Rotarian Nan Pineda is Extension Aid and Don Tamporong is Special Representative. I have received very satisfactory and encouraging reports so far and I expect a definite part on or before October 31, 1954.
(4) A Provisional Rotary Club was scheduled to be organized in Roxas City on September 18, 1954, with Rotarian Gordie Gordon as Extension Aid and Nene Salazar as Special Representative. I expect a definite report from this quarter on or before October 31, 1954.
(5) A Provisional Rotary Club was scheduled to be organized in Bangued, Abra, with Rotarian Ito Tinio as Extension Aid and Grin de Guzman as Special Representative. I expect a definite report from this quarter on or before October 31, 1954.
(6) Extension surveys are now being made or about to be made in Aparri or Tuguegarao; San Fernando, La Union; Subic; Balanga; Pasig; Calamba, Laguna; Boac; Iriga; Calivo; San Jose de Buenavista; Iligan; Catbalogan; Surigao; Pagadian and Jolo. Reports of these surveys will be made from time to time.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE:
Place: Bacolod
Date: February 25-26, 1955

Past President Gordie Gordon has been appointed by President Dick of the Host Club as General Conference Chairman. Initial plans are being laid out. The various committees will be appointed in due time. Meanwhile, may I urge you to see that your "On to Bacolod" committees are functioning effectively in order that your Clubs will be able to send a big delegation to this Golden Anniversary District Conference?

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION:
Let us bear the following in mind in connection with our Golden Jubilee celebration:
(1) We are now about half-way through our preparation period. By this time we must have our celebration plans and projects fairly well defined and ready for implementation when the celebration period begins on February 23, 1955.
(2) We must have impressive and colorful local Club celebrations worked out by the Club anniversary committees.
(3) Each Club must have a well-planned program of anniversary activities on February 23, 1955.
(4) Each Club must work out a plan to continue celebrating the Golden Jubilee sometime during the 13-week period to supplement the program on February 23 and in order to cover the whole Club territory as widely as possible. A schedule of such celebration will be prepared for all the Clubs during which the "Great Adventure" film and other celebration features will be shown.
(5) We will have a District Golden Anniversary program and ball on the evening of February 26 to climax the District Conference.
(6) Every available medium of celebration should be utilized by every Club. There will be a special Golden Anniversary Commemorative stamp issue in connection with the celebration. The Rotary Club of Manila is planning a very impressive celebration on February 23, 1955, and all Rotarians who can do so are invited to attend this celebration.
(7) We must try to get Rotarians of neighboring Clubs to attend each other's celebration so as to foster increased fellowship among the Rotarians of our District and make our celebrations better attended.

DISTRICT FUND:
The amount collected as of this date from the Clubs, including the balance of P556.62 turned over to me by Past Governor Art is P3,726.62. Several Clubs have not yet sent in their contribution and they are urged to do so. The budget District Committee of which Past Governor Tingting is chairman has been requested to prepare the budget for this Golden Year. I have requested the Past Governors to make their reports on the District Fund during their incumbency as requested by several Clubs and these reports will be given to you when done.

May I close this letter reiterating my thanks to all of you for receiving me so well when I visited
your Club and for all the cooperation extended to me so far. With my cordial greetings to all of you my dear Presidents and Secretaries, I am

Rotarily yours, PONS