50EARS Setting Sail for - Rotary Club of Makati

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Club of Makati

Setting Sail forNew Horizons

Setting Sail for New Horizons

Club of Makati 50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Club of Makati

Setting Sail fo

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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

The Rotarian spirit was once again in full display at the old seaport in Ormoc City during the 2016 turnover ceremony for the Gift of Boats project.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016


Club of Makati

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016Setting Sail for New Horizons

Club of Makati

Rotary Club of Makati:SETTING SAIL FOR NEW HORIZONS

Published by Makati Rotary Club Foundation, Inc. © 2016

Coffee-Table Book CommitteeChairman: Carlos Miguel D. RufinoVice Chairman: Freddie BorromeoMember: Felix AmparoClub President: Eddie YapRCM Secretariat/Project Coordinator: Sandie Sacris

Executive Editor: Alfred A. YusonAssociate Editor: Tess C. Dumana

Book Designer: Orland S. Punzalan Photographer: Peter Manlangit †Cover Photography: Ronnel Dotaro

ISBN: 978-971-93289-1-9e-book: 978-971-93289-2-6

Printed by: House Printers, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Preface

Introduction

Messages

The 50th Anniversary Celebration

Charter Anniversary Keynote Address Milestone Projects (NACS & AQMS)

The Rotarian Spirit (Boats Donation to Leyte victims of Haiyan)

Historical Background

THE FIRST FORTY YEARS1966-2006

1966-1967Armando “Mando” Picciotto †

1967-1968Jose Luis “Louie” P. Faustino

1968-1969Roger “Roger” K. Davis

1969-1970Farid “Fred” S. K. Nassr

1970-1971Ford “Ford” M. Tussing †

1971-1972Luis Ma. “Louie” Guerrero †

1972-1973Rafael “Paing” Hechanova

1973-1974Juan “Puno” N. R. Peña

1974-1975Silvestre “Beteng” M. Punzalan †

1975-1976Arthur “Art” G. Misner Jr.

1976-1977Roberto “Bert” J. Montinola †

1977-1978President: Edgar “Hadji” Kalaw †

1978-1979William “Bill” Beck 1979-1980Efren “Efren” Sales †

1980-1981Froilan “Froily” T. Aragon †

1981-1982Ronald “Ronnie” L. Velayo

1982-1983Nicolas “Nick” O. Katigbak †

1983-1984Giorgio “George” A. Bongulielmi †

1984-1985Cesar “Cesar” V. Campos

1985-1986Leocadio “Cady” J. Dominguez †

1986-1987 Carlos “Charlie” S. Rufino

1987-1988Renato “Rene” L. Paras † and Alfredo “Fred” B. Parungao

1988-1989Jesus “Gigi” M. Zulueta, Jr.

1989-1990Reynaldo “Rey” A. Adriano

1990-1991Teodoro “Ted” C. Borlongan †

1991-1992Fidel “Fidel” M. Alfonso

1992-1993Armand “Jun” F. Braun, Jr.

1993-1994Jose “Joe” S. Alejandro

1994-1995Juan Carlos “Carlos” del Rosario

1995-1996Evergisto “Ever” Macatulad †

1996-1997Ricardo “Ric” G. Librea

1997-1998Isidro “Sid” G. Garcia

1998-1999J. Antonio “Tony” M. Quila

1999-2000Cristino “Tito” Panlilio

2000-2001Roland “Roland” U. Young

2001-2002Juan “Jonny” J. Carlos, Jr.

2002-2003Robert “Robert” F. Kuan

2003-2004Rene “Rene” B. Benitez & Wellington “Willie” Soong

2004-2005Federico “Freddie” Borromeo

2005-2006Jesus “Sonny” Tambunting

THE LAST TEN YEARS 2006-2016

2006-2007Conrado “Conrad” G. Marty

2007-2008 Jose AR “Pepito” Bengzon

2008-2009Larry “Larry” A. Boyer

2009-2010Felix “Felix” B. Amparo

2010-2011Filadelfo “Jun” Rojas, Jr. †

2011-2012Renato “Rene” M. Limjoco

2012-2013Reuben “Reuben” M. Valerio

2013-2014Carlos Miguel “Carlo” D. Rufino

2014-2015Reginald Alberto “Reggie” B. Nolido

2015-2016Eduardo “Eddie” H. Yap

Serving Beyond Club Level

Rotary Anns

Makati Rotary Club Foundation, Inc. (MRCFI)

Fellowship

Advocacies

TRF Giving

Towards the Future

Contents

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Rotary Club Makati Setting Sail for New Horizons

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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

The idea for this 50th Anniversary coffee table book came up during the first meeting of the 50th anniversary

planning committee that was held in President Eddie Yap’s house on July 10, 2015.

The Coffee Table Book committee was formed, with PP Carlo Rufino designated to lead as chairman. PP Freddie Borromeo was appointed vice-chairman as he was involved in the previous 40th anniversary book. PP Felix Amparo was also tapped to provide input and guidance.

The goal was to come up with a distinctive publication that would serve as a comprehen-sive historical work highlighting the 50 years of Rotary Club of Makati history, with a special focus on the last ten years that had not been covered in the previous book.

This publication is the product of many minds, hearts, and hands coming together for one purpose: to produce a

book that tells the story of the Rotary Club of Makati from its birth in 1966 to its 50th year.

The story tellers are the presidents, past and present, who have held the reins of the Club one year at a time and who have contributed to the building of a strong and dynamic club, brick by solid brick, to catapult it to the place of prestige it currently occupies.

The meat of the story was supplied by the story tellers in interviews, face-to-face and online, and by thick volumes of the newsletter Kaunlaran, faithful journal of Club goings-on, as well as annual reports and sundry other sources.

The by-year accounts were sent to the concerned presidents for their once-over, with a number offering suggestions or sending pictures. Dusty photographs were unearthed, sorted out and captioned. The back-and-forth among those in the work loop was animated.

Tapped to put everything together in a special coffee-table book was Alfred “Krip” Yuson, veteran book author, editor, and Palanca Awards Hall of Famer, who had edited another such book on the Club’s 40th year in 2004. His designation as Executive Editor was on account

of his expertise as writer and editor and his familiarity with Club history and the people responsible for it.

Tess Dumana, writer and long-time editor of the Club, was conscripted as Associate Editor, while Orland Punzalan, prizewinning book and magazine designer, working from his base in Singapore, kept the internet lines busy with digital submissions. Thanks to the power of the internet, there was no need for physical meetings.

This book also owes much to Sandie Sacris and Ron Dotaro of the Club Secretariat.

Lastly, the inputs, suggestions and guidance provided by President Eddie Yap, PP Carlo Rufino, PP Freddie Borromeo and PP Felix Amparo can only be recognized and appreciated as having been invaluable.

To ensure that it becomes a tangible keepsake and collect-ible, the scope of the book was expanded to include the culmi-nating celebration of the 50th Anniversary event, as well as the two milestone projects that were the Air Quality Monitoring Sys-tem and the National Awards for Community Service.

This book thus aims to ac-knowledge the contributions of the past presidents who have made the Club what it is today, as well as highlight the significant contributions to the country that the Club as a whole has made through the years.

It will also guide future gener-ations on properly reflecting on what the Rotary Club of Makati stands for: the core values of “Service Above Self ” through its various projects that identify and characterize the Club, apart from serving as its avenues for mani-festing these values.


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Messages


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

My warmest greetings to the Rotary Club of Makati as you celebrate your 50th Anniversary.

A democracy thrives best when ordinary citizens are engaged in the tasks crucial to a nation’s development. Non-profit, community-based organizations are among those at the frontlines of this endeavour, and we count ourselves fortunate to have such active partners in the Rotary Club of Makati.

For 50 years, your collective has given hope to those who are in the margins of your city, working with both private and public sector to alleviate hunger, poverty, and illiteracy in many of its areas. Let this milestone remind you of your accomplishments and the thousands of lives you have touched; may it inspire you to continue the work you have done and help more people as you look onward to a century of service.

As we write a new chapter in our history, I trust that the Rotary Club of Makati will remain a steady yet vigilant ally of our people in keeping our government remain honest and decent in the next several years. Let us work together to turn our dreams into reality, that our nation may reach even greater heights and build a more inclusive and progressive future.

I wish you a happy and meaningful celebration.

BENIGNO AQUINO IIIPresident of the Philippines

Benigno S. Aquino IIIPresident of the Philippines

I would like to extend my warmest regards and congratulations to the Rotary Club of Makati, Inc. R.I. District 3830, on

holding this year’s 50th Charter Anniversary Celebration.

Truly, we have much to be proud of as we mark our golden year. Since its inception, the Rotary Club of Makati has drawn in many men eager to serve others selflessly, and discover and develop their leadership potential. Within the folds of Rotary, we have found greater meaning and relevance in life through pursuits that enabled us to make a difference in the lives of others.

It is worthy of note that our endeavors have touched countless lives, especially the less fortunate. As we mark this auspicious year, I trust that the quality of service we provide our fellow Filipinos will further improve, even as we seek to widen the scope and impact of our programs and projects.

Mabuhay kayong lahat!

JEJOMAR BINAYVice-President of the Philippines

Jejomar C. BinayVice-President of the Philippines


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

My warmest greetings to the officers and members of the Rotary Club of Makati as you celebrate your 50th

charter anniversary.Seeing how much the men of the Rotary

Club of Makati give to the community is truly admirable. Even with your busy lives, the Rotarians always find the time to volunteer. The Rotary experience is about doing good and being of service to people in communities. It is the shared passion to help those who have less in life that binds the members into a dynamic and cohesive team. Because you have changed the world and made it a better place to live in, the millions you have helped will always be grateful to your organization. Rotarians will always be known for their generosity and compassion and thus I laud you for their humanitarian work and the contributions you have made to society.

FRANKLIN DRILONSenate President of the Philippines

Franklin M. DrilonSenate President of the Philippines

Dear Rotary Club of Makati members. I am delighted to congratulate your club on its 50th anniversary.

There is a point when we all must ask ourselves what legacy we want to leave in this world. Will we see someone’s need and meet it? Will we work for peace and goodwill wherever we go? Will we try to make the lives of those around us better?

For 50 years, the Rotary Club of Makati, Philippines has answered those questions with tireless Service Above Self. Thanks to the work you do, Rotary is known as an organization that fills needs, fosters peace and goodwill, and improves lives in local and global communities.

Each Rotary club is unique. Successful clubs embrace the different strengths and passions of each member, and use that diversity to bring out the best in each individual for the good of all. Vibrant clubs are willing to be innovative in the ways they serve their communities, and

K.R. RavindranRotary International President, 2015-2016

the members know that when they gather every week, real and lasting change happens.

This anniversary is an important milestone. It not only marks your commitment to Rotary, and the commitment of Rotarians who have

gone before you, but it presents the opportunity to renew your vision and passion for Service Above Self. It is a time to reflect on how we can grow Rotary, so that your club may continue to be effective for the next 50 years. It is an opportunity for us to Be a Gift to the World all over again, and that is a truly wonderful thing.

I congratulate all of you and wish you the best in your next year as a club.

Sincerely,

K.R. RAVINDRAN2015-16 President, Rotary International


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Time flies, especially when you are having a great time. Fifty years! That’s more than 2,500 weeks of fellowship and service,

with the loving and active support of your spouses. Multiply these by the number of members who put their vocations to work while upholding high ethical standards, the good that you have sown is beyond measure.

The Rotary Club of Makati has maintained its position as the largest club in District 3830. In addition, you have made your mark through Grand TRF gifts , over 40 extension clubs, a Legacy of education, Distinguished RI Officers and Senior District Leaders, Enabler of Special Children, and the Noteworthy Partnership-in-Service Program

Now that Rotary International is poised to advance peace with a membership composed of more females, young executives and professionals, and Rotary Alumni, your published book will definitely be a source of inspiration and organizational wisdom.

Each member of the Rotary Club of Makati has an extraordinary story to tell that mirrors the interesting times gone by and the days well spent in the last 50 years. This book is a fitting and proper tribute to all those whose lives you have touched and those who have touched yours.

Guiller E. TumanganDirector, RY 2014-2016Rotary International

While the young still craft and chase their dreams, let your vision be their beacon.

Letty and my entire family join me in extending to all your members and your family our best personal regards and congratulations! Be blessed more.

GUILLER E. TUMANGANDirector, RY 2014-2016Rotary International

My warmest congratulations to the Rotary Club of Makati on its 50th charter anniversary.

This club has come a long way after its charter date on March 12, 1966. Now considered as the “mother of all Makati clubs,” and arguably the club with financial resources, the Rotary Club of Makati (RCM) has already produced six (6) District Governors; with one of them, Paing Hechanova, having served as Rotary International Director in 1996-98. This club is noted to share its time, talent and treasure not only in various communities throughout the country but also with other Rotary clubs within and outside the district. In partnership with other Rotary clubs through its Partnership in Service Program (PSP), RCM has been able to reach out to other communities. Notably one of its flagship programs, “Books Across the Seas” (BATS), has provided over 15 million books throughout the country since 1988. RCM has also supported many other charitable organizations like Philippine Institute of the Deaf, PGH surgical missions, feeding and literacy programs, Gawad Kalinga houses and many more projects to improve the lives of the beneficiaries in the communities it serves.

And now, the club is establishing another milestone as it celebrates its 50th charter anniversary, with the nationwide launching of

Jose A. R. Bengzon IIIDistrict Governor, RY 2015-2016R. I. District 3830

the Most Outstanding Economic and Livelihood Project in each of the ten (10) rotary districts in the country.

It is indeed a privilege to be a member of this prestigious club. I again congratulate the long list of past presidents who have led this club to greater heights in each of the 50 years of community service and to all its members for a job well done. I enjoin our members to continue to reach out to those who need our support either directly or through partnerships and joint projects with other Rotary clubs as we continue to be a source of inspiration and continue to “gift our time, gift our talent and gift our treasure” to each other, to our family and friends, to the communities we serve, to the country we live in and continue to be a “Gift to the World.”

All the Best, JOSE “PEPITO” A. R. BENGZON IIIDistrict Governor, RY 2015-16District 3830, Zone 7-A, Philippines


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

To be president of this great club, the Rotary Club of Makati, is an honor. To be its president on its 50th anniversary is a

blessing I am most grateful for.We have arrived at a crossroad that allows us

an unobstructed view of three directions — the past, the present, the future.

From my vantage point, I see a past abundant with reasons for pride for everyone who has passed the portals of this great club, a present that makes me want to rise and applaud, and a future that is bright and laden with promises to fulfill.

Our past is strewn with success after success. Every year in our 50-year journey has brought us laurels on our head and feathers on our cap that have given us reason to stand tall. But it is the things we have done to make lives and communities better that count the most. We are happy because they are.

Today, on our golden anniversary, we are in a happy place. It is a present that calls for a grand celebration in a fitting applause for what we have become. And for what we have yet to be. Our present line-up of projects tells of causes close to our hearts, conditions we want to make better, places we want to help transform, people we want to lend our support to so that they may be in a position to help themselves and others.

Our current crop of members stands on both sides of the age spectrum — seniors with a wealth of wisdom and experience to share, and young men eager to learn and ready to soar on service skies. A look at the new breed of Rotarians on our

Eduardo H. YapPresident, RY 2015-2016Rotary Club of Makati

roster tells us that the Club is in good hands.

This is a good occasion for a prayer of thanksgiving. We give thanks for the rich blessings that have come our way which has made it possible for us to be a blessing to others. We give thanks for the men and women we have worked with who have taught us a thing or two and have become lifelong friends. We are grateful for the opportunity to add strength and spirit, muscle and heart to the pillars of the Rotary movement — service and fellowship.

We look forward with great anticipation to the future — what it holds for the Rotary Club of Makati and more importantly, what the Rotary Club of Makati and its stouthearted men will bring to it.

EDUARDO H. YAPPresident, 2015-2016

Fellow Rotarians —It is indeed a privilege from our Lord for

me and others like our charter members to still be around and be a witness to 50 glorious years of Service, Friendship and Love for Others.

I still remember the day when as an architect in 1967, I was invited by Bert Montinola to join a new NGO called Rotary. Never in my thoughts at that time did it occur that the organization and myself would still be around for this 50th Charter Anniversary.

From a personal purpose, one begins to realize as years go by that a personal development enhances one’s membership in the Club. One begins to realize that for fulfillment in this world, one has to help and love others.

This happens because of Involvement, Involvement and Involvement. Rotary membership does not begin and end in luncheons. It is just an opportunity to develop your relationships; leads one to work jointly in service to others less privileged and at the same time, also inculcates in each one the promoton of the core values of integrity, honesty and the recognition of the value of each vocation.

It is therefore a truism that the value of Rotary membership is equal to what you put in – in time, talent and resources. Rotarians are busy people – your classification defines what one is doing. One’s participation and engagement in community projects, in efforts to promote high ethical

Rafael G. HechanovaDirector, RY 1996-1998Rotary International

standards, in friendship and in fostering peace and goodwill to others around the world defines what a Rotarian is.

There is no instant Rotarian – A person starts with being a member of a Rotary Club but does not become a Rotarian until he develops a love for others.

One cannot Serve without Loving and one cannot Love without Serving.

Love for others is what Rotary is.

RAFAEL “PAING” G. HECHANOVA SR.Member, RC of Makati, since 1967Club President, 1972-73District Governor, 1979-80RI Director, 1996-98


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Pleasant greetings to my fellow RC Makati Rotarians:There is so much reason for jubilation as we

celebrate this special occasion – the 50th year of our great Club.

I take great pride in the huge success and enormous accomplishments of our prestigious Club. It has been half a century of fostering true friendships and social responsibility. Fifty years of commitment to improving the quality of life in our communities through our numerous projects of feeding the hungry, eradicating TB and nurturing the sick back to health, building houses for the homeless, training the unskilled, creating job opportunities for the unemployed, providing capital to enterprising women and the marginalized, caring for the abused and abandoned, protecting the environment and championing clean air, bringing relief to victims of natural calamities, and providing the light of education to those hungry for learning.

With the combined strength of our Club members, we will continue extending a strong helping hand to our less fortunate brothers and sisters. The twin ideals of fellowship and service that brought us together in the past fifty years will continue to hold us together for another fifty years and beyond.

J. ANTONIO M. QUILACentennial Governor

J. Antonio M. QuilaDistrict Governor, RY 2004-2005R. I. District 3830

Congratulations to my home club- the Rotary Club of Makati, as we celebrate our 50th year!

Through the years our club has been doing its share of making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate and disadvantaged in society. We have given of our time, talent and treasure and we continue to do so. The pages of this coffee-table book will show that we truly care for others. I am indeed fortunate to be a member of this Club and to have led it as a club president in RY 1997-98.

I have many friends in this club which I now consider family. The bonds of friendship developed through the years inspire us more to strengthen this club and bring in potential members who can help the club grow.

Let this milestone event inspire us to rebuild and strengthen our bonds of friendship with each other and inspire us to do good in our communities.

I’ve always believed that Rotary is God’s gift to the world and we Rotarians are His vessels to bring His love to others. Let us be deserving of this privilege.

Sincerely,

ISIDRO “SID” G. GARCIADistrict Governor, RY 2009-10Club President, RY 1997-98Member since 1988

Isidro G. GarciaDistrict Governor, RY 2009-2010R. I. District 3830


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

This is a perfect time for celebration, and for congratulations. Indeed, we have much to celebrate and be thankful for,

and many to congratulate and thank.Let me begin with a word of thanks to the

Rotary Club of Pasay, our mother club, for giving birth to RC Makati in 1966. Thanks, too, to our founding members, for their vision and for their determination to win the nod of Rotary International to create a club in Makati. We salute the charter members who have gone ahead of us and pay tribute to those who are still with us—Ronnie Concepcion, PP Roger Davis, Carding de Leon, and Louie Lipio.

I take my hat off to all our presidents—too many to name—for building a strong club, one year at a time, each one boosting the service gains of the past, beefing up its resources, and earning respect for the Club, not only within District 3830 and the Philippines but also on foreign shores.

Congratulations, too, to Bert Montinola, Tony Quila, Sid Garcia and Pepito Bengzon, past presidents who moved a step farther on the Rotary service road to take on the top post in the district, sharing their experience and expertise and the Club’s resources with other clubs. Special mention must be made of Past RI Director Paing Hechanova, who has served on the highest echelons of RI and succeeded in putting the Club on the global map of Rotary.

We are grateful to PP Hadji Kalaw for conceiving and pushing to fruition the Makati Rotary Club Foundation (MRCFI) as a generator

Robert F. KuanDistrict Governor, RY 2013-2014 R. I. District 3830

of funds for the Club; PP Art Misner and Vic Floresca for persuading Rohm & Haas to donate the company’s 6-hectare property in Las Piñas to MRCFI, a move that has secured the Club’s financial footing; and Miguel Ortigas, Nonoy Alindogan, and PP Fidel Alfonso for getting Ayala

Corporation to donate to MRCFI the property on which the RC Makati clubhouse now stands.

Our thanks must also go to those who contributed time, talent and treasure towards the construction of our clubhouse—PP Tito Panlilio, Ruben Payumo, Ben Hughes, and PP Charlie Rufino.

And we thank all our members, past and present, for

serving as the cogs on the RC Makati wheel to keep it well-oiled, turning non-stop and humming with purposeful and fruitful activity for 50 golden years.

We are where we are today because of them.It is my fervent hope that the young members

who are on our roster now and those who will come after us will cherish the legacy of service and fellowship that is on our plate today; that they will preserve and grow the resources we have been blessed with and those we worked hard to build; and that they will enrich the RC Makati story with new chapters that will inspire future members to carry on, with purpose on their minds and passion in their hearts.

ROBERT F. KUANDistrict Governor, D-3830, 2013-2014Club President, 2002-2003Member since 1985

My fellow Rotarians,As a proud member of this club, I

would like to extend my congratulations to our President Eddie Yap and the Rotary Club of Makati on its 50th Charter Anniversary! I look forward to the next fifty years to come!

This book has been a challenge in trying to fit so many years of prestigious history into one book. On behalf of the committee, I hope for your patience and understanding if we could not cover everything.

I would like to thank all those that made this book possible: Executive Editor Krip Yuson, Main Writer Tess Dumana and COS Ron Dotaro and Project Coordinator Sandie Sacris of the RCM Secretariat who contributed their time and effort in sourcing all the materials such as pictures and articles from the massive amount of records on the club. I would also like to thank my vice chairman, PP Freddie Borromeo, for providing guidance and support and PP Felix Amparo for helping edit and proofread the texts.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who contributed their stories, pictures, and fond memories for this book.

CARLOS MIGUEL RUFINOPresident, RY 2013-2014Chairman, 50th Anniversary Coffee Table Book Committee

Carlos Miguel D. RufinoChairman, 50th Anniversary Coffee-table Book Committee


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Setting Sail for New HorizonsSetting Sail for New Horizons

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On behalf of the Rotary Club of Pasay, District 3810, I am privileged to greet our fellow Rotarians from our daughter club,

the Rotary Club of Makati in District 3830, on their 50th Charter Anniversary!

We are very proud to have sponsored the club which has now become one of the most prestigious, influential and largest Rotary clubs in Philippine Rotary. Your achievements all these years are incomparable and beyond boundaries.

May you continue to be a model Rotary club in service and fellowship, make a difference in the lives of many people you serve, and carry on to share opportunities of service with other Rotary clubs.

Congratulations, Rotary Club of Makati! You Are a Gift to the World!

Sincerely,

RAFAEL N. HERNANDEZWorld Class PresidentRY 2015-2016

Rafael N. HernandezPresident, RY 2015-2016Rotary Club of Pasay


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

It was a glittering night of nostalgia, thanksgiving, and music as the golden anniversary of RC Makati was celebrated

on the 12th of March, 2016 at the spanking new Shangri-La Hotel at Bonifacio Global Center in Taguig City.

Five hundred distinguished guests — the gentlemen in smart tuxedos, the ladies in stunning long gowns — filled the grand ballroom of the hotel to commemorate the birth of the Club in 1966.

It turned into an evening of Rotary nostalgia and the finest in entertainment in terms of classical music and dance.

The Rotary segment was a reminiscence-and-recognition program that began with a prayer by PE David Ackerman, followed by an audio-visual presentation that featured the Club’s major, long-running programs, as well as a video clip of PP Roger Davis recalling how things were in the early days.

In his keynote speech, President Eddie Yap recalled the highlights of the Club’s storied past — all of five decades of commendable service to the community, the country, and beyond. He thanked everyone who had played a part in its success, and conferred a Lifetime Achievement Award on PRID Paing Hechanova for his sterling contributions.

Due recognition was also given to the charter members who founded the Club in 1966, notably three of them who were present: PP Roger Davis, Raul Concepcion and PP Fred Nassr. The Club presidents were then presented in a processional.

Lauded were two milestone projects on the Club’s 50th year: the National Awards for Community Service and the Air Quality Monitoring System.

The latter project had been announced and launched by President Yap in his induction speech on July 17, 2015. It received the enthusiastic support of the induction guest speaker, retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who then and there made a cash donation. His support was duly acknowledged with an award at the 50th anniversary gala.

For the entertainment segment, the ballroom was instantly transformed into a concert hall for a musical program that transported the guests to Vienna.

OPPOSITE PAGE: PRID Paing

Hechanova receives lifetime achievement

award from Pres. Eddie Yap

INSERT: Ret. Supreme Court Chief Justice

Artemio Panganiban receives a plaque of appreciation for his staunch support for

the AQMS project

FOLLOWING PAGES: Rotary Club of Makati

Presidents


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

“It was like being in Vienna.” Winsome ladies in stunning long gowns. Distinguished-looking gentlemen, dapper in tuxes and bow ties. And music, divine, wafting from instruments made by man and God in a setting that could have been Shangri-la. And indeed it was.

The Shangri-La at the Fort, that is, that spanking new hotel in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig that breathes refinement and good taste at every turn.

A Viennese-inspired Vienna Spring Concert was the musical highlight of the 50th anniversary gala dinner of the Rotary Club of Makati in the magnificent ballroom, purposely transformed into a concert hall with a European opera-house ambiance.

“We were blown away” by the elegance and grandeur of this not-often seen concert, said guest Keith Harrison of Rotary Club Singapore. “It was like being in Vienna,” remarked enthralled Rotarian spouse guest Jovie Yupangco.

The concert consisted of popular classical music and dances, the best loved waltzes, polkas and marches with touches of the opera and operettas by Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehar, plus a sprinkling of Rossini, Puccini, De Curtis and Tchaikovsky. The titles of the pieces were strange when read, but proved familiar when played and sung.

In his Program Notes delivered before the concert started, Rotary Club of Makati president Eddie Yap, wearing the persona of concert producer, said the Vienna Spring Concert harks back to the era of romance when the world was gifted with immortal classical compositions that have resonated for generations in the hearts of music lovers everywhere. The selections gave a flavor of the music performed in great concert venues in Europe to take the audience on a flight of musical fancy, Yap added.

To accentuate the point, images were presented of Vienna’s famed Musikverein, Schonbrunn Palace, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Rome’s Terme di Caracalla, Belgium’s Maastricth square and Berlin’s Waldbruhne open-air amphitheater, all venues of great sell-out concerts by contemporary classical music greats.

“We were blown away” by the elegance and grandeur of this not-often-seen concert, said guest Keith Harrison of the Rotary Club of Singapore.

RC Makati Rotarians with guests

Maestro Olivier Ochanine, resident musical director of the national orchestra, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, stirred the audience with the opener, Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra Overture (The Thieving Magpie). The unique melodies evoking a clever, thieving magpie that were used effectively by Stanley Kubrick in his movie, A Clockwork Orange, were vintage Rossini and called to mind his popular opus, William Tell Overture.

Stefanie Quintin, a young soprano with rich promise, delighted with her agile coloratura voice and technique in her rendition of the highly ornamented Voices of Spring (Fruhlingstimmen). The extended runs, surges and trills evoked the sounds of spring with bird calls and chirps and the cascades, ebbs and flows of nature characteristic of that season of rebirth and joy. The introduction of aspiring talents is a regular feature in Yap’s concert productions.

Rachelle Gerodias, the country’s acknowledged diva, was enthralling as the seductress Giuditta, a Spanish dancer, in Meine Lippen Sie Kussen so Heis (My lips, they burn so hot) from the operetta of the same title by Lehar set in colonized North Africa of the ’30s. Wearing a long-skirted Spanish dress and with flaming red lips, Gerodias sang and danced, swirling her skirt like a flamenco dancer while offering red roses to captivated males in the audience.


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Another soprano solo by Gerodias was the popular Quando M’en Vo Soletta (When I walk the street alone a.k.a. Musetta’s waltz) from the world’s best-loved opera La Boheme by Puccini.

Two romantic duets by the musical couple Rachelle Gerodias-Park and Beong In Park enraptured the audience, with their rich soprano-and-baritone blending in Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz (Your heart is my delight). Business tycoon George Yang lent color by joining in a trio in what is usually a love duet, vying for the hand of the lady only to be spurned when the Rachelle-Byeong duo went on to the lilting duet Lippen Schweigen (Lips are sealed) singing of unspoken love, finally revealed, from Lehar’s wildly popular operetta, Merry Widow.

Yang of McDonald’s fame admirably soloed the well-loved Neapolitan Torna a Surriento by De Curtis.

Park’s solo was a showstopper, with his booming baritone and stage presence artfully interpreting Largo al Factotum (Make room for the factotum) from Rossini’s popular opera, Barber of Seville.

Classical music and classical dance blended in a number of dances performed by the ladies and gentlemen of the Club, led by president Yap and his lady, Dellie. The first dance, a Polonaise marked by precise formation movements to the music from the opera Onegin by Tchaikovsky, showed off the grace and elegance of the dancers.

Images were presented of Vienna’s famed Musikverein, Schonbrunn Palace, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Rome’s Terme di Caracalla, Belgium’s Maastricth square and Berlin’s Waldbruhne open-air amphitheater

TOP: Pres. Eddie and First Ann Dellie lead

the Emperor Waltz

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Jojo Borromeo, Baby Manlapit, Terry

Tambunting, First Ann Dellie, Tessie Amparo

and Lu Limjoco

L-R: PP Reuben & Mimi Valerio, Pres. Eddie & First Ann

Dellie Yap, Marilou Alejandro, Louie

Aseoche and Miko Valerio

FOLLOWING PAGES: The dance participants


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Competition ballroom dancer Elena Yap-Lee with Brian Ocana and Gener Galang gracefully glided in a waltz, exhibiting their winning fluid form and style that kept the audience spellbound.

Landler, an Austrian folk dance popularized by Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp in the blockbuster movie The Sound of Music was beautifully interpreted by an all-ladies group resplendent in long gowns and carrying dainty fans.

The crowning glory was the grand waltz by 20 Rotarian pairs to Strauss II’s regal Emperor Waltz, once again led by president Yap as the emperor and his lady, Dellie, as the empress. The dance was a fitting showcase of the splendor of Strauss’ music and of the poise and polish of the men and ladies of the Club.

The evening culminated in a burst of liveliness with the bouncy “Funiculi Funicula” and finally, as in all Vienna New Year’s Concerts, with Strauss’ Radetsky March, the default finale since its inclusion in 1958.

The final applause following the finale said it all — joyful appreciation for a lovely evening of music that will live in the heart’s memory for a long time to come.

“The gala dinner and concert were unbelievable in all their splendor. The Rotary Club of Makati set a standard that cannot be matched anywhere,” said Dr. Albert Wee, a cardiologist at the renowned Mt. Elizabeth Hospital and a member of the Rotary Club of Singapore.

A balloon drop, a pleasant and joyful surprise, put a definitive period to the enchanting program that celebrated an achievement-filled 50-year run of service by the Rotary Club of Makati.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:

Rachel Gerodias

George Yang, Rachel Gerodias,

Byeong In Park

OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP:

Multi-awarded dancer Elena Yap with

partners

RCM ladies perform “Landler” from “The

Sound of Music” and below join

Rotarian husbands for “Polonaise”.


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1966 ~ 2016

There must be a reason why Number “50” is assigned the color gold — and that reason beats in the heart of every member of RC

Makati tonight. It certainly beats in mine. Speaking for myself alone, my cup runneth over.

I am filled with pride over how much has been accomplished in 50 years by the men of stout hearts and vibrant spirits who have filled our roster of members from March 12, 1966 to March 12, 2016.

Allow me to give you just two shining examples.On our maiden year, our founding members

boldly established a postal station at the Makati Commercial Center to shorten the postal process for Makati-bound airmail — a big project for a new Club with limited resources.

In 1972, the Club constructed a shopping arcade in the same area to generate operating funds for its humanitarian projects. Quite a feat for a 6-year old Club.

Since then, we have blazed trails and set trends in service and fellowship, reaping honors in the form of plaques and trophies, and more importantly, in the hearts of countless people whose lives we have made better and who have in turn made better Rotarians out of us.

We are here tonight to celebrate everything that we have done and have become because of who we are.

Although we indeed have much to celebrate, celebration is not all we are here for tonight.

We are here to look back to where we’ve been

— keeping in mind Rizal’s wise exhortation that those who forget their past are doomed to never reach their destination. So tonight, we remember our members who left the Rotary fold for other fields, and we thank them for enriching the Club history and lending color to our traditions.

Tonight, too, we turn our thoughts to and say a prayer for those who have passed on, especially our past presidents who gave of themselves in many selfless ways.

And we are here for something bigger — thanksgiving.

We are here to give thanks for wave after wave of blessings that have come our way. We are here to tell the world that all that we have done and all that we are now owes to one fact, one truth: we have been blessed, beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

The blessings have come in a copious flow throughout all of our 50 years —

In our founding members who had the vision to found a Rotary Club in what was then just a town with a promise;

In the properties we have received from generous corporate donors;

In the connections we were fortunate enough to have established that led to enduring projects;

In our past presidents, who so selflessly devoted a year of their lives to doing the work of Rotary, thus polishing the name of the Club;

In our past members who carried the torch and held it high, building upon previous

By President Eddie H. Yap

achievements, brick after brick; and in our current crop of members — the young, with their idealism and energy; the “once young,” with their precious wisdom and experience — who are all primed to honor the legacy of the past by carrying it forward into the next 50 years.

We are fortunate to have a secretariat that is not only efficient and responsive but proactive, anticipating needs and possible snags, and attending to them before they turn into problems. This I say with all sincerity: the exercise of producing tonight’s program has been made lighter by our staff—under the very able direction of our Event Chair, Louie Aseoche.

We have been blessed, we believe, so that we in turn can be a blessing to others, and “Be A Gift to the World.” And, may I add, “be a gift to one another.”

This was amply demonstrated on many occasions this year, as time and again I called on our members to roll up their sleeves to do things or use their resources to get things done. And each time, they stepped up to the plate to hit homerun after homerun — with tonight’s grand event the biggest homerun of all, with all the bases loaded.

Allow me to mention just two instances that have made my heart sing this year and reinforced my faith in this Club and its members. The first is the logging of 100 Paul Harris Fellows in just eight months, double our original target, a remarkable achievement that belongs to PDG Tony Quila. It is

a district record that, we dare say, would be difficult to duplicate, let alone surpass. How everyone responded was breathtaking. Just as impressive were the efforts of our Ways & Means Committee — in particular, PP Tito Panlilio and the Valerios: Miko, PP Reuben and Ann Mimi — who all moved to ensure that we have the wherewithal for tonight’s celebration, and our club members and friends who responded with characteristic alacrity to our calls for support. These are the things that make a president happy and proud and grateful beyond words.

This year has bonded us together not just as a team working for the same goal, but as a family looking after each other.

Together we confronted challenges and turned them into opportunities for service. We took stumbling blocks and turned them into stepping stones. It is our members who make this Club great. And on a personal note, they are what has made my presidency a precious experience of a lifetime and our 50th truly a year of gold. If I feel like a million dollars tonight, it is because of our members.

There is no better time to celebrate our work, crown our achievements, and give thanks for our blessings than on the very day of our 50th anniversary, the 12th of March 2016. This is our moment.

Thank you, all, for being here to share this golden moment with us. Thank you for making this moment a golden memory that will forever shine in our hearts.

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Rotary Club Makati

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The Last Ten Years50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Two milestone projects highlighted the celebration of the 50th anniversary year.

National Awards for Community ServiceThe first, the National Awards for Community Service (NACS), is a nation-wide search for the most outstanding community projects of Rotary Clubs in the Philippines. Ten winners from the ten Rotary districts in the country were awarded plaques and cash prizes.

The National Awards for Outstanding Community Service was a brainchild of PRID Paing Hechanova who also serves as Chair of the project that involves all district governors.

PRID Paing Hechanova first presided over the formal launch of the National Awards for Community Service (NACS) to cap his year as Club President in 1972-73 after conceptualizing and preparing for the recognition program for two years.

The efforts of individuals and institutions in enhancing various communities are thus elevated to national cognizance. Once again it has been placed under the direct supervision of its architect as part of the celebration of the Club’s 50th anniversary year.

Air Quality Monitoring SystemTo fill an essential public need, the Rotary Club of Makati has installed an Air Quality Monitoring System, a pilot project in Metro Manila which, as President Eddie H. Yap has stressed, involves the very air we breathe — air that is life itself and thus very precious.

With the NCR’s population increasing annually at 1.78%, a considerable number of people are surely exposed to air pollution due to the sheer number of vehicles that pass through major thoroughfares. In fact, the National Capital Region reported levels of carbon emission that exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Guideline Value (NAAQGV).

The information on the levels of inhalable outdoor air pollution in the form of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), population exposure, as well as precautionary measures must be made available to the public in order to catalyze the government to action and

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE, WITH PRES. EDDIE, LEFT:

PP Armando San Diego, RC Meycauayan Uptown District 3770; L-R, Rtn. Benito Reforsado and Pres. Bobby

Macahilig, RC Parañaque, District 3830, and PDG Tony Quila; L-R, Susan De Jesus and Zeni Yao, RC Chinatown

Manila, District 3810, Fmr. Finance Sec. Roberto De Ocampo, and PP Tito Panlilio; L-R, PDG Robert Kuan,

Sandra Chang, RC Ormoc, District 3860, Cong. Lucy Torres-Gomez, and IPP Reggie Nolido.


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1966 ~ 2016

support succeeding regulatory measures. Hence, this RCM air monitoring project,

whose objectives are: to build public awareness of the hazardous condition of the air over Metro Manila; to catalyze to action relevant government agencies to take immediate steps to strictly implement the provisions of the Clean Air Act to curb carbon emissions; and to mobilize private corporations, NGOs, and environment advocates to support the fight against air pollution and, thereby avert or at least diminish the effects of climate change.

The project entails the procurement, installation and operation of an air quality monitoring system with stations

in strategic sites to measure the pollution index in the locality.

The system will have five monitoring stations strategically located throughout Metro Manila. It employs German-made GRIMM EDM365C air and meteorological monitoring units capable of automatically and continuously measuring and recording airborne particulate levels for PM10, PM2.5, and PM10-2.5. It is equipped with meteorological sensors to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction. The PM2.5 sensors conform with US EPA standards.

The system continuously analyzes air quality and meteorological conditions and provides access to the data in real time via website

and mobile app to designated outlets of broadcast, print, social media organizations and project partners. Readings will also be flashed on participating electronic advertising billboards. Information dissemination involves broadcast partners ABS-CBN Channel 2 and ANC for TV, DZMM for radio and other media outlets; print partners Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and others; a dedicated website for access of real-time air quality index and health advisories; mobile app for real-time readings through smartphones; and digital advertising billboards in strategic public locations.

For the pilot phase, the following three stations were

commissioned: Station 1 on Ayala Avenue, Makati; Station 2 at EDSA-Muñoz, Quezon City; and Station 3 at the Lung Center of the Philippines, also in Quezon City, through a data tie-up with the institution.

The University of the Philippines, through its Institute

of Environmental Science and Meteorology, has been tapped to provide technical assistance to ensure integrity and accuracy of data including: overall data analysis, management and reporting; development and maintenance of the website and mobile app; and gathering of mortality data from nearby hospitals for statistical analysis.

Support for future expansion of the AQMS, will be solicited from individual donors and corporate sponsors. The Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc. (MRCFI) is funding the pilot phase to the tune of P3 million.

The project is envisioned as a continuing club venture, to be undertaken from year to year. Because of its high-profile, high-impact character, it will place RC Makati front and center of this critical issue that not only endangers public health but also contributes to climate change, thus giving the Club a distinctive public image boost on its milestone 50th year.

The RCM’s AQMS Team includes avid environment advocates headed by President Eddie Yap as project manager. Lending able assistance are: PP Roland Young, assistant project manager and in charge of technical matters; Community Service A Dir. Eddie Galvez, media liaison and sponsorships; IPP Reggie Nolido, mobile app; Drexx Laggui, IT adviser; and PDG Tony Quila, PN Jun Jun Dayrit, Dir. Philip Soliven and Dir. Dick Upton as members, with Dr. Mylene Cayetano of UP Diliman as technical consultant.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: “Live” interview with Pres. Eddie Yap about AQMS on ABS-CBN early morning show, Umagang Kay Ganda

At launch of AQMS Project and signing of MOA with UP Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, L-R: PE David Ackerman, PP Roland Young, Pres. Eddie Yap, UP President Fred Pascual, and Dra. Mylene Cayetano, UPIESM.

At AQMS site on bust Ayala Avenue, L-R: Dir. Eddie Galvez, ABS-CBN reporter Tina Marasigan, and Pres. Eddie Yap.

The AQMS monitoring station on Ayala Avenue

in Makati

The project is envisioned as a long-term undertaking that will run through the terms of PE David Ackerman in RY 2016-2017 and PN Jun Jun Dayrit in RY 2017-2018.


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1966 ~ 2016

When Ravi Ravindran took over the helm of Rotary International on July 1, 2015, he immediately

sounded a rallying cry to all Rotarians across the globe — over 1.2 million men and women — to inspire everyone to step up their humanitarian programs in pursuit of Rotary’s service goals.

“Be a gift to the world,” he enthused. That worldwide call confirmed the intuitive

and visionary thinking on the part of IPP Reggie Nolido, who on the previous year had already initiated what he called his “Gift of Boats” project to benefit the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in Leyte.

Then President Reggie coordinated with the office of Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez of the fourth district of Leyte for the boat donation project for fishermen in her district who had been terribly affected by Haiyan (codenamed Yolanda locally). Instead of wooden boats, it was decided to donate boats made of fiberglass that would last much longer.

With the assistance of PP Roland Young, then Pres. Reggie immediately went to work on the required funding by applying for a global grant from The Rotary Foundation (TRF).

The grant, which totaled $94,560, was contributed by international partners RC Shanghai, $13,000; RC Beijing, $5,000; District 3600 with a District Designated Fund (DDF)

contribution of $13,000; RC Migeum of Korea, $2,000; and District 52 DDF, $2,000; with RC Makati putting in $23,040, and TRF adding a matching fund of $ 36,520. PP Roland was instrumental in getting RC Shanghai, PP Frank Yih in particular, to support the project.

The boats were fabricated by boat makers in Palompon, Leyte, with the engines sourced from a supplier in Cebu.

It was coincidental that this “Gift of Boats” was delivered a day before Pres. Ravi arrived in Manila for the Presidential WASH Conference that took place at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay on March 18-19.

President Eddie Yap, project spearhead IPP Reggie Nolido, and project chair PP Roland Young, flew to Leyte on March 15 to preside over the formal turnover the following day — a total of 168 fiberglass fishing boats for fishermen in four towns in Leyte: Ormoc City,

ABOVE: Pres. Eddie Yap with the children of fishermen who were

project beneficiaries

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP. Photo op after awarding of certificates of

boat donation to Leyte fishermen

OPPOSITE PAGE BOTTOM. An array of boats at old seaport in

Ormoc City at turnover ceremony for Gift of Boats Project

When President Ravi Ravindran took over the helm of Rotary International on July 1, 2015, he immediately sounded a rallying cry to all Rotarians across the globe — over 1.2 million men and women — to inspire everyone to step up their humanitarian programs in pursuit of Rotary’s service goals.


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with 111 recipients; Merida, 18; Albuera, 20; and Isabel 19.

Before the turnover, the recipients were gathered for an orientation session in which they were informed of their responsibilities under the deed of donation, especially the provision that forbids them from selling, mortgaging, transferring or using the boats for illegal activities. Also included in the project design is a training module in the care and maintenance of the boats, as well as in trouble shooting.

Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez and husband Richard Gomez were on hand for the turnover ceremony conducted at the old port of Ormoc City. Rep. Lucy was in tears as she thanked the Club for the “Gift of Boats.” She narrated how, in the aftermath of the deadly storm, she had wished that at least 100 fishermen in her district would be so gifted. To date, she has received some 2000 boats from various donors, but notes that the 168 under this Rotarian project was the biggest single donation by any donor. The response to her efforts had gone beyond her wildest dreams.

Rep. Gomez presented a plaque to Pres. Eddie as a token of appreciation for the project that exemplified the Rotarian spirit of always seeking to be “a gift to the world.”

Interestingly, Pres. Eddie happily remarked

With their brand new fiberglass boats, the Leyte fishermen will now be able to pick up their lives that had been cruelly disrupted when Super Typhoon Yolanda turned all of the Visayas into a virtual wasteland and reduced the people into a state of helplessness.

that the number 168 in Chinese means “a path to prosperity.”

The turnover was followed by the blessing of the boats, which gave Pres. Eddie, IPP Reggie and PP Roland a chance to have a meet-and-greet with the beneficiaries.

Painted white, the boats are identified as a project of the Rotary Club of Makati, with letterings in blue, complemented by the Rotary logo in gold. Two thin bands on top, one in blue, the other in gold, complete the design.

With their brand new fiberglass boats, the Leyte fishermen will now be able to pick up their lives that had been cruelly disrupted when Super Typhoon Yolanda turned all of the Visayas into a virtual wasteland and reduced the people into a state of helplessness.

Now they can conduct their traditional livelihood once again, thanks to the Rotarian spirit and RCM’s “Gift of Boats.”

ABOVE: Pres. Eddie Yap with beneficiary-fishermen’s children

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP. Pres. Eddie Yap receives plaque

of appreciation from Leyte Congresswoman Lucy Torres-

Gomez in the presence of, L-R, PP Roland Young, IPP Reggie Nolido,

and Congresswoman Lucy’s husband Richard Gomez.

OPPOSITE PAGE BOTTOM: The Rotarians who pushed the Gift of Boats project to a happy conclusion: IPP Reggie Nolido,

Pres. Eddie Yap, and PP Roland Young


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50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Rotary was brought to the Philippines by Americans at a time when the country, then called the Philippine Islands, was

under American rule. In 1919 the Rotary Club of Manila was established — as the first Rotary Club not only in the Philippines but in all of Asia, then known as the Far East. Chartered on June 1, 1919, the new club was under the direct supervision of the then 14-year-old International Association of Rotary Clubs, renamed Rotary International (RI) in 1922.

It took the club 13 years before it organized its first daughter club, the Rotary Club of Cebu, in 1932. Subsequently, clubs were established in Iloilo, Bacolod, Baguio, Lucena, Malolos, Batangas and San Pablo. In 1959, the Rotary Club of Kalookan and the Rotary Club of Pasay were organized, with the latter remaining as the only club south of the Pasig River for some time.

The Pasay Club, composed of a mix of businessmen and professionals, mostly from Pasay and Makati, wanted a club name that mirrored its composition. They wrote to RI to request for a name change to Rotary Club of Pasay-Makati “to truly reflect,” they pointed out, “the club’s composition.” The request, however, was thumbed down. Unfazed by what they thought was a temporary setback, the Pasay Rotarians persisted, carrying on a vigorous postal back and forth that included a threat of disbandment in favor of the formation of a new

club under Kiwanis or Lions. But RI had set the rule, and it would not budge. In this instance, persistence failed to work.

It took all of four years for the Pasay Rotarians to accept the RI verdict. The only way to solve the impasse was to create a new club for those who resided and/or worked in Makati.

In January 1966, under District Governor Jose Barredo’s direction, RC Pasay Vice-President Armando “Mando” Picciotto organized a committee to handle the documentary requirements for creating a new club. On February 15, the Provisional Rotary Club of Makati held an organizational meeting at Capri International, a restaurant at the top floor of the Rufino Building on Ayala Avenue in Makati. In that meeting, Mando Picciotto was elected charter president.

On March 12, 1966, the new club shed its provisional status with its formal acceptance as a member of Rotary International. Of the 64 members of RC Pasay, 46 chose to join the new club: the Rotary Club

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

The Makati Post Office, the club’s first community service project

A shipment of medicine flown in to Jomalig Island for a medical mission

The Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade inaugurated in 1973


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of Makati under District 380.It took three months for the fledgling club to

prepare for its first major social event. On June 18, 1966, it was presented with its certificate of membership in RI in what was described as “a glittering charter presentation ball” at the Manila Polo Club in Forbes Park. The RI president was C.P.H. Teenstra of The Netherlands, and the RI theme was “Action, Consolidation and Continuity.” Governor Jose Barredo administered the oath of office to the charter officers and directors:

Armando Picciotto Charter PresidentBenjamin Ayesa Vice PresidentVincent Hitt SecretaryArsenio Maralit TreasurerJose Luis Romero Salas Sergeant-at-ArmsRoger Davis DirectorJose Luis Faustino DirectorBernardo Gaberman DirectorRoberto Montinola DirectorMiguel Ortigas Director The rest of the charter members were:

Freeman Allen, Newland Baldwin, Paul Calderara, Celedonio Caluza, Charles Cistan, Raul Concepcion, Ricardo de Leon, Adolfo Duarte, Warren Eck, Joaquin Garcia, Ramon Garcia, Robert Johnson, Edgardo Kalaw, Basilio King, Albert Levy, Aloysius Lipio, Alberto Morabia, Jose Morales, Karl Nathan, Joseph Ng, Jose Ma.

Ozamis, Rebecco Panlilio, John Arthur Paradies, Jose Picornell, German Pulgar Jr., Silvano Quimbo, Donald Ress, Willis Rohling, Erick Stern, Max Stuessi, Amancio Sun, Paul Taningco, Luis Terren, Ford Tussing, Max Velhagen and Ramon Zosa.

Of the 46 members, four are still in the club roster (as of December 31, 2015): Raul “Ronnie” Concepcion, Roger “Roger” Davis, Ricardo “Carding” de Leon, and Aloysius “Louie” Lipio, while three became club presidents: Roger Davis in 1968-1969, Edgardo “Hadji” Kalaw in 1977-1978; and Roberto “Bert” Montinola, president in 1976-1977 and governor of District 382 in 1982-1983.

The Rotary ConnectionRotary runs strong in the families of a number of members.

Among the charter members, Ronnie Concepcion is the brother-in-law of PRID Rafael “Paing” Hechanova, who is married to Ronnie’s sister Mely and is uncle to Christopher “Toffy” Concepcion and Raul Joseph “Jojo”

Concepcion. Carding de Leon is father to “Dicky” de Leon and father-in-law to PDG Tony Quila, who is married to Carding’s daughter Angela. Peter Ng is the son of Joseph Ng, while PP Freddie Borromeo is a nephew of Amancio Sun, brother of Freddie’s mother.

It was the influence of PP Charlie Rufino that inspired the entry of son Carlo, also a past president, and nephew Andrew Prieto into the world of Rotary. Three other father-and-son tandems have enriched the club: PP Reuben Valerio and son Miko, PP Roland Young and son Sam, and the late Irving Ackerman and son David, who is set to serve as president in 2016-2017

Venues for MeetingsSince its birth 50 years ago, the club has held its weekly meetings in three places. While the first organizational meeting in 1966 took place at Capri International Restaurant atop the Rufino Building owned by the family of PP Carlos “Charlie” Rufino, the following year saw the meetings held at an establishment owned by Charter Member Rebecco “Bec” Panlilio — Sulo Restaurant at the Makati Commercial Center (forerunner of Ayala Center).

From 1977 to the present, the meetings have been conducted at the Manila Peninsula Hotel (now The Peninsula Manila) at corner Ayala and Makati Avenues.

In the beginning, these meetings were held

at the Rigodon Ballroom and, on occasion, at one of the adjoining function rooms. Eventually, reduced attendance prompted a transfer to the cozier Conservatory at the upper lobby, with occasional moves to the Escolta Restaurant and, for major events and joint meetings with other clubs, back to the ballroom.

Since Year 1 of its existence, the Club has been holding its weekly meetings on Tuesdays at noon.

ABOVE: Government-issued stamp commemorating the first anniversary of the Makati Post Office

LEFT: Full-page supplement in the Manila Bulletin on the club’s 25th anniversary

Certificate of membership in Rotary International


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The First Forty Years

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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benefit to as many individuals or communities as can be reached. To ensure sustainability, the Club would partner with government agencies, business corporations, and private organizations with human and material resources, proven expertise in a given field, and a shared passion for or interest in a given program or cause.

The Club’s first major project met all these criteria. In addition, it impacted a significant public — Makati’s business community and gated residential villages — and served notice of the Club’s arrival on the civic action scene.

It was an ambitious undertaking for a fledgling club that had yet to grow wings: a postal station at the Makati Commercial Center (now Ayala Center). The MCC post office was a timely response to a felt need to speed up the flow of communication and keep it in step with the town’s business center that was growing at a

‘Tis said that the presidency of any Rotary Club is a full-time job that requires much from the person. This

is doubly true of RC Makati, the presidency of which demands undivided attention and, often, 24-hour days. It can be tiring. And challenging. Which is why anyone elected president commits to one year and one year alone of full service to the Club — 12 months and no more. That rule has rung true for all of its presidents. Except one.

Charter president Armando “Mando” Picciotto stands out in club history as the only president who served for two terms, running for 15 months-plus: the first year, from March 12, 1966 when the Club received its charter, to June 30, 1966, the last day of that Rotary year, 1965-1966; and then for a full-year term from July 1, 1966 to June 30, 1967. He also has the distinction of being the only president to have served under two governors of District 380 — Jose Barredo and Rodolfo Nisce.

As charter president, Mando set the direction and laid the foundation for the Club’s service programs and strategy. The Club would engage in projects with far-reaching and long-term ends that bring the greatest

dizzying pace. Noting the delay in mail arrivals owing to the routing of letters and parcels from the airport to the central post office in Manila before their delivery to addressees in Makati, the new club designed a new route that allowed air mail to be delivered from the airport straight to Makati, bypassing the central PO.

The project stood on three legs: the Bureau of Posts, which approved the plan and provided the staff that manned the station; Ayala Corporation, which provided the space for the station; and the Club, which provided the transportation for mail pick-up and delivery, built PO boxes that it rented out to institutional and individual subscribers, and oversaw operations.

Its effects were immediate, and met with praise. It was, from the standpoints of public service and public image, a master stroke that merited the issuance by the Bureau of Posts of a commemorative stamp on its first anniversary.

The Club’s maiden year also marked the start of a long line of projects in the education sector.

Maiden Year: 12 March-30 June1966; 1July 1966-30 June 1967Charter President Armando “Mando” Picciotto †

ABOVE LEFT: The Makati Post Office at the Makati Commercial Center, established on the Club’s maiden year

ABOVE RIGHT: Press release on the inauguration of the Makati post office, with Mrs. Imelda Marcos and Pres. Mando Picciotto cutting ceremonial ribbon

It was an ambitious undertaking for a fledgling club that had yet to grow wings: a postal station at the Makati Commercial Center (now Ayala Center).

Joining hands with S.C. Johnson & Sons, it secured a donation of a 10-wheeler truck, outfitted it with bookshelves, and filled them with donated books for a mobile library that rolled through remote towns and barrios in neighboring provinces where books were in short supply, there to be devoured by students and teachers hungry for the knowledge derived from

books and thankful for the joy that books alone bring.

The mobile library would be the precursor of the Club’s most enduring educational project —Books Across the Seas or BATS.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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The First Forty YearsRotary Club Makati

54 55

Building on the foundations laid on the Club’s maiden year, Pres. Luis “Louie” Faustino expanded the operations of

the MCC postal station, doubling the number of post office boxes in response to requests. PO box rental provided the fledgling club with the income it needed for Club operations and project implementation.

The postal facility also gave the Club a public image boost. As the first post office branch in the Philippines, it attracted media attention. It was featured in The Philippine Herald, a major broadsheet, in its 21 June 1968 issue. It also merited space in the December 1968 issue of The Rotarian, the official magazine of Rotary International. As early as then, RC Makati was making waves as a club to watch.

It was on this year that the Club set in motion a wide-ranging program in vocational service designed to uplift lives through skills training, job placement assistance and entrepreneurship.

and attending to the needs of customers, skills that equipped them for jobs in hotels and restaurants. The project ushered in a wave of training programs in waitering in later years.

The Sixties were a golden period for Philippine agriculture with the development of the much celebrated “miracle rice,” a variety that yielded bumper harvests not seen before. As Filipino farmers basked in their fortune, their counterparts in Indonesia were suffering from poor yields. In response to a request from Indonesia, RC Makati shipped a donation of 40 sacks of the so-called “miracle rice” to Indonesia for planting by Indonesian farmers. The donation helped the farmers recover their losses and get back on their feet, thus saving their country’s ailing rice industry.

1967-1968President: Jose Luis “Louie” P. Faustino

Its initial salvo in this department was a multi-faceted livelihood and training program for the residents of Barrio Pinagkaisahan, one of the smaller barrios (now called barangay) of Makati. With Bert Montinola as chairman, the Club partnered with the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) for a project that offered classes in dressmaking, embroidery, bamboo craft and mushroom culture. With the skills they acquired, the participants embarked on ventures that generated income for their families, thus decreasing their dependence on government dole-outs and building their self esteem.

The year also saw the initiation of a waitering class for jobless out-of-school youth in Barrio Pio del Pilar, also in Makati. Under this project chaired by Bec Panlilio, trainees learned the basics of waiting on tables, serving food and drinks,

FROM TOP:

Training of would-be waiters in Barrio Pio del Pilar, Makati

News clip from a press release on shipment of “miracle rice” to Indonesia, L-R: Fred Nassr, Pres. Louie Faustino, Seco Pertierra and Roger Davis

The Sixties were a golden period for Philippine agriculture with the development of the much celebrated “miracle rice,” a variety that yielded bumper harvests not seen before.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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The MCC Post Office continued to serve the growing mailing needs of Makati’s burgeoning business and commercial

sectors and its expanding community of gated residential villages. Under Pres. Roger “Roger” Davis, the postal station grew further, prompting its expansion to a new wing and the hiring of additional staff to accommodate the increasing postal traffic. It was obvious that the service was appreciated by the public it intended to serve and whose interest spurred its creation.

The interest and well-being of young children was also among the areas RC Makati was intent on serving. Thus the Club constructed the Kaunlaran Park, a playground for children in Barrio Guadalupe Viejo, on a piece of property covered by a long-term lease to the Club by Ayala Corporation. It is worthy of note that the property would later be donated by Ayala Corp. to the Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc. (MRCFI), the Club’s funding arm, and would eventually become the site of the three-story MRCFI Building, which now houses the RC Makati clubhouse.

Year 3 is historically significant in that it marked the start of the Club’s efforts at “extension” or “territory sharing,” the process

1968-1969President: Roger “Roger” K. Davis

that enables an existing Rotary Club to organize a new club, thus “sharing its territory” and “extending” its reach and that of Rotary in general.

On this year RC Makati organized and gave birth to its first “daughter,” the Rotary Club of Makati West which in time grew to become the second largest in Makati and the district and a fertile breeding ground for district governors and RI officers.

It was also Pres. Roger who started the practice of paying visits to other Rotary clubs to establish fellowship and service links that benefit both visitor and the visited. He led delegations on visits to the Rotary Club of Legaspi in Albay, the Bicol region, RC Cebu in Central Visayas, and RC Zamboanga in Mindanao. It is safe to assume that it was that visit that paved the way for the forging of a matched clubs agreement with RC Cebu in RY 1991-1992.

ABOVE: Pres. Roger in action on the hard court for RC Makati

basketball team

RIGHT: Groundbreaking for Kaunlaran Park, site of the

present clubhouse on Camia St. in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati

Year 3 is historically significant in that it marked the start of the Club’s efforts at “extension” or “territory sharing,” the process that enables an existing Rotary Club to organize a new club

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

59

Rotary Club Makati

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It was during the presidency of Farid “Fred” Nassr that the Club had its first taste of the fruits of The Rotary Foundation’s grants

program. The project was a rural health clinic for the

tiny and remote Polilio Island, off Quezon, an economically challenged fishing community where no health facility existed and where the sight of a doctor or nurse or even a midwife was cause for celebration.

Through the clinic, the fishermen and their families underwent medical checkups, were provided free medicine for simple ailments like colds, coughs, flu, and diarrhea, and were taught the basics of preventive medicine, hygiene and sanitation, and nutrition. The clinic was later given credit for the vast improvement in the health condition of the island residents.

Funding for the project was by way of a World Community Service (WCS) grant from The Rotary Foundation. It is worthy of note that at the time the WCS grant was received, the

1969-1970President: Farid “Fred” S. K. Nassr

then four-year-old club had yet to remit its first dollar contribution to TRF, let alone register its first Paul Harris Fellow. That the Club merited assistance from TRF despite its being a non-contributor to its program of giving offered concrete validation of the Foundation’s mission “to do good in the world.”

Carrying on with the vocational service mission initiated the year before last, the Club linked up with Sister Juliane’s Homecraft Industries for a skills training program in manicure/pedicure, sewing, beauty parlor operation, and bag making for unemployed women and out-of-school girls.

Early on, the Club had made up its mind to adopt a holistic approach to community development that integrates as many development areas as its resources would allow. Thus guided, it partnered

ABOVE: News clip from Kaunlaran showing Pres. Fred handing keepsake to guest speaker, Cong. Teodulo Natividad

LEFT: Products of bag-making project for unemployed women and out-of-school girls on display in Sister Juliane’s Homecraft Industries showroom

Early on, the Club had made up its mind to adopt a holistic approach to community development that integrates as many development areas as its resources would allow.

with the grassroots-based Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement for a community development scheme for the residents of Guadalupe Viejo in Makati, with components in health, skills training, livelihood generation, education and self-government.

Pres. Fred also improved the Kaunlaran Park in Guadalupe Viejo by constructing a basketball court for the use of the neighborhood’s young hard court enthusiasts and building a fence around the property to lend it a measure of privacy.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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It was on this year, during the term of Pres. Ford “Ford” Tussing, that the Club launched the National Awards for Community

Service (NACS), a national recognition program for outstanding community service projects. The project, a brainchild of Rafael “Paing” Hechanova, was a nationwide search for the best projects undertaken by individuals or groups in villages and towns all over the country, demonstrating the five-year-old club’s advocacy for community development at the grassroots level and its capability to successfully execute a project of a national scope.

It is worthy of note that NACS, though carried out only on certain years, has lasted long enough to be set to motion on the Club’s 50th anniversary year, 2015-2016, and that the person at its helm on this, its latest run, is none other than its brains, Past RI Director Paing Hechanova.

1970-1971President:

Ford “Ford” M. Tussing †

Ford Tussing’s term should also be remembered as the year the Club first embarked on disaster relief operations, an activity that in subsequent years would become a fixed entry in the Club’s annual plan. This initial foray into disaster response was in the form of financial assistance to the Rotary Club of Naga in Camarines Sur and the Rotary Club of Malolos in Bulacan, two areas badly affected by typhoons.

The year also saw improvements made on the park and playground in Guadalupe Viejo, with Pres. Fred donating steel for the construction on the property of a building that became a skills training center.

News clips from Kaunlaran during Pres. Fred Tussing’s term

Ford Tussing’s term should also be remembered as the year the Club first embarked on disaster relief operations, an activity that in subsequent years would become a fixed entry in the Club’s annual plan.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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This was a landmark year for the Club, a boundary in time that ushered a period of financial security that has

stood to this day. This was brought about by the establishment of a foundation envisioned to be a generator of funds needed by the Club to enable it to engage in projects that offered the most good to the most number of people and would run from one year to the next without interruption.

The entity was the Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc. (MRCFI), a non-stock, non-profit corporation duly registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Although there were dissenters who viewed the idea as “an impossible dream,” its mastermind, Edgardo “Hadji” Kalaw, was able to convince them of the validity of the idea and in due time proved himself right.

To give muscle to the foundation and get it on its way to becoming the funds builder and treasury steward that it was conceived to be, the decision was made to build a commercial arcade in the heart of the Makati Commercial Center, on a piece of property now occupied by SM Makati.

But it was clear to all that the infant club did not have the means to carry out such an ambitious project. The officers quickly solved

1971-1972President:

Luis Ma. “Louie” Guerrero †

the problem by obtaining a syndicated bank loan of P660,000. To keep costs down and ensure that the borrowed capital would cover all material and manpower expenses, donations were made by a number of members, notably Paing Hechanova who donated his services as architect and Roberto “Bert” Montinola of Amon Trading who donated construction materials. Others chipped in with donations in cash and in kind, an early demonstration of the team spirit that would be the hallmark of club fellowship in years to come.

The Club capped the year by registering its very first contribution to The Rotary Foundation with the enlistment of IPP Ford Tussing as a Paul Harris Fellow in January 1972.

The year culminated with the Club hosting the 8th district conference of District 380 under District Governor Benjamin Campomanes.

Although there were dissenters who viewed the idea as “an impossible dream,” its mastermind, Edgardo “Hadji” Kalaw, was able to convince them of the validity of the idea and in due time proved himself right.

Pages of the newsletter, Kaunlaran, show activities during Pres. Louie’s term

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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The three-level Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade rose from a blueprint designed, pro bono, by Paing

Hechanova, who had put in his share of the team effort by donating his services as building architect. Completed in record time, the arcade flung open its doors in 1973 when the architect served as club president, a case of perfect timing.

Per design, the ground floor was occupied by retail establishments, including a fast-food store and a jewelry shop, the second level was rented out to shops and offices, while the top floor was home to a dance studio and a multi-tasking secretariat that handled the affairs of the club, foundation and arcade.

The inauguration of the building ushered in a period of plenty that put the Club in an excellent position to set off its mission of service with renewed vigor, secure in the certainty of the resources it needs to see its every plan through.

Pres. Paing’s term was host to a number of significant projects.

The current nutrition project that provides supplemental feeding to undernourished children finds its roots in the Mothercraft Project, which provided free meals to undernourished children in the various barrios of Makati. Initiated by member Dr. Mike Celdran

1972-1973President:

Rafael “Paing” Hechanova

and pushed through by President Paing during his term, the project included mothers’ classes that had women attend demonstrations on the planning and preparation of inexpensive but nutritious dishes and talks on such topics as nutrition, child spacing, responsible parenthood, and basic health care, among others.

The Club linked up with the Rural Bank of Makati to offer low-income families with an income-generating opportunity through a hog fattening project thought up by Tomas Soriano and responded to an appeal for assistance by the Rotary Club of Malolos for families displaced by the great floods of 1972 that inundated most of Metro Manila and Central and Northern Luzon for several weeks. The Club’s efforts were recognized with a plaque of appreciation by the Rotary Club of Malolos, Bulacan, D-377.

His advocacy of Rotary’s Four Way Test led Pres. Paing to

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

The Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade at the Makati Commercial Center, designed by Architect Paing Hechanova

Mothers and children in a nutrition center in Makati

Hog fattening project funded by loans from Rural Bank of Makati

Completed in record time, the arcade flung open its doors in 1973 when the architect served as club president, a case of perfect timing.

organize a nationwide essay writing contest on The Test that hit two birds with the same stone — animated the usually boring Four Way Test Committee and sprung it to action and led the youth and their elders to a better understanding and appreciation of the Four Way Test and its four-pronged message.

To promote healthy employer-employee relations and give due recognition to a group of unsung heroes in the workplace, the Club organized a Secretary’s Day at which members’ secretaries occupied center stage as guests of honor. With a mind to get the Club to pitch its share in Rotary’s campaign for growth through extension, Pres. Paing worked for the establishment of the Rotary Club of Makati North, the Club’s second daughter in seven years, which still exists today after 44 years.

And to cap a year of achievement, he presided over the formal launch of the National Awards for Community Service (NACS), the recognition

program that had been conceptualized and prepared for in the previous two years and which has moved outstanding provincial community service projects to national prominence. Since then, through the years, the Rotary Club of Makati has been giving due recognition and awards to individuals and institutions that enhanced various communities in the nation, thus elevating its reputation to national cognizance. The program is enjoying another run under the personal supervision of its architect as part of the celebration of the Club’s 50th anniversary year.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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Pres. Juan “Puno” N. R. Peña expanded the operation of the MCC Post Office with the installation of an additional

400 post office boxes as a response to a public clamor for the service. The rental income from the new PO boxes further fattened the Club’s coffers, allowing it to think up more projects to put in place for the community. With the completion of the MRF Arcade, the postal station transferred to the new building, making it easier for the Club to oversee day-to-day operations.

It was a year of building upon the accomplishments of previous years, in application of the strategy of service laid out at the birth of the club. These strategic moves included the expansion of the Makati Self-Help Marketing Center and the facilities of the Kaunlaran Park in Guadalupe Viejo. Pres. Puno also saw it fit to expand the coverage of the Mothercraft Project with the opening of another ten nutrition centers in needy sections of Makati where children were found to be nutritionally deficient.

1973-1974President:

Juan “Puno” N. R. Peña

When violence erupted in Mindanao between Muslim rebels and government forces, countless Muslim families were caught in the crossfire, with no recourse but to flee their homes and seek shelter in evacuation centers. In a show of Rotary spirit, the Club sent financial assistance to the refugees to help tide them over until the fighting came to an end. The Club also extended help to families that lost their homes in a big fire that razed the Rockwell electric plant in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati.

Pres. Puno’s term stands out in RC Makati history as the year the Club manifested in a very concrete way its strong advocacy for youth causes. This he did by organizing a Rotaract Club whose members were rehabilitated drug dependents. Undaunted by the very real danger of their slipping back to their old ways, the Club carried on, filling their hours with activities that not only kept

ABOVE: Pres. Puno (at rostrum) at meeting in Sulo Restaurant, Makati Commercial Center

BELOW: Young children and their mothers at a nutrition center

Pres. Puno’s term stands out in RC Makati history as the year the Club manifested in a very concrete way its strong advocacy for youth causes.

them busy and out of trouble but also reinforced their self esteem and gave them a sense of hope that things can only get better. The impact of the project as a catalyst for change in the lives of young men and women was given proper recognition by Rotary International in the form of a Significant Achievement Award.

The Club’s skills at event organizing was tested with two hosting assignments — first, a summit meeting with then incumbent RI President William Carter; the other, a meeting with Past RI Pres. James Conway. The successful staging of both events further enhanced the Club’s prestige enough to claim the title as the premier Rotary Club not only in Makati but in the district as well.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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It was Silvestre “Beteng” Punzalan, ninth president, who concretized the Club’s integrated community development

strategy, a scheme designed to deliver a package of services that covers as many community needs as possible.

The platform for this application, and Pres. Beteng’s signature undertaking, was the Jomalig Project. As conceived, the project entailed the Club’s “adoption” of the impoverished fishing community of Jomalig Island off the coast of Quezon that lay in the direct path of the vicious typhoons that visit the country every year, to bring to it fruits of development that it had never had a taste of.

Initial efforts centered on filling the absence of a very basic community need: health service. The Club put up a medical clinic, staffed it with two full-time nurses and stuffed it with medicines for fever, colds, coughs, diarrhea, and other simple ailments. Doctor-members

1974-1975President:

Silvestre “Beteng” M. Punzalan †

paid periodic visits to the island to offer consultations, checkups, and basic treatment in medical missions. Because the land-and-boat trip was time-consuming and dangerous, they would come in by private plane and sometimes spent the night, relishing meals of fish fresh from the sea and sleeping on cots. The service was a godsend for the Jomalig people who before the advent of RC Makati had not been visited by a health worker, let alone seen the likes of a doctor.

Years later, a deadly typhoon tore through the island, leaving the structure that housed the clinic in tatters and beyond repair.

From Kaunlaran: a newsclip on the 1975 Inter-Rotary Basketball Tournament, with Pres. Beteng, center, holding pennant

The service was a godsend for the Jomalig people who before the advent of RC Makati had not been visited by a health worker, let alone seen the likes of a doctor.

To this day senior members of the Club who had the opportunity to join the trips to the island have fond memories of the experience and still bask in the warm feelings that come with having done a good turn for another, especially those in most need.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

71

Rotary Club Makati

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Two major developments marked the presidency of Arthur “Art” Misner, who by a stroke of fortune for RC Makati,

happened to be president as well of Rohm & Haas Philippines, an American company engaged in the manufacture of chemical products.

After the expiration in 1974 of the Laurel-Langley Trade Agreement that granted American individuals and companies the same rights as Philippine nationals, including land ownership, American companies, Rohm & Haas among them, considered donating their real estate to local entities. As luck would have it, Pres. Art persuaded his company to donate to the Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc. (MRCFI) the 6.5-hectare property on which stood their manufacturing plant in Las Piñas. The donation made MRCFI a land owner and eventually made the Rotary Club of Makati a rich club.

The other major development under Pres. Art’s watch was the creation of the Makati Research & Development Center (MRDC), a multi-purpose facility initially designed to provide economically-challenged families in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati with services in health, nutrition, skills training and opportunities

1975-1976President: Arthur “Art” G. Misner Jr.

for gainful employment. Most significantly, MRDC served as a facility that taught children with physical and mental inadequacies the 3 Rs of academics and the rudimentary skills a child needs to function on his own. In later years, MRDC would evolve to become an educational institution for children with special needs.

Pres. Art pressed on with the Jomalig Project and continued the delivery of service in the health clinic. On top of this, he built a vocational training shop where residents were given training and eventually acquired skills for employment. The simple structure was built, bayanihan style, with the men chipping in their carpentry skills and in some cases, native building materials, giving them a sense of ownership of the skills center.

Focused on Vocational Service, Pres. Art partnered with the Rotary Club of Manila for Operation Hanapbuhay, specifically the

TOP LEFT: Pres. Art Misner presiding over a meeting

ABOVE: Out-of-school boys in training at Makati Research & Development Center

As luck would have it, Pres. Art persuaded his company to donate to the Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc. (MRCFI) the 6.5-hectare property on which stood their manufacturing plant in Las Piñas.

publication of four booklets with a list of job opportunities. He also embarked on other training and livelihood programs including a hog fattening project, under which the Club provided interest- and collateral-free loans for the purchase of piglets; placement of Makati Polytechnic Community College students in jobs with Mantrade, Novelty Philippines, and Gilbarco, among other companies; and held a Secretaries’ Day, a special meeting with company secretaries as guests of honor, as a gesture of appreciation for their services.

When Typhoon Didang struck, leaving thousands homeless and hungry, the Club solicited donations from members, raising a tidy sum that enabled them to put together and deliver 2,000 bags of relief goods to as many families under Operation Tulong.

This year marked the Club’s initiation to a health area that would in time be among its longest-running service initiatives: the treatment and eradication of juvenile tuberculosis, euphemistically called primary complex. In this initial venture, the Club linked up with the Philippine Tuberculosis Society for a program that trained nutritionists and other health volunteers to administer the BCG vaccine. The program resulted in the immunization of 822 children against TB.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

73

Rotary Club Makati

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Senior members will remember the term of Roberto “Bert” Montinola, a charter member who went on to become a

district governor of District 382 in RY 1982-1983, as the year the Club ended its management of the MCC Post Office, turning it over to the Bureau of Posts after ten years of successful and profitable operation. Having kick-started the project and run it to great success, the Club felt it was time to mainline the project to the government entity under whose province it rightfully belongs.

The Club’s advocacy for the health of mothers and children found concrete form in the Targeted Maternal & Child Care Health Program under which children and expectant and lactating women from indigent sections of Makati were given access to free consultations with doctors and free medicine for common ailments. It also continued the operation of feeding centers and mothers’ classes under the Mothercraft Project.

In vocational service, the Club worked in tandem with the Rotary Club of Manila to donate the seed capital for a project to provide job opportunities to the un-employed and under-employed under “Operation Placement” and organized training programs for Makati residents who hoped to find

gainful employment as waiters, cosmetologists, dressmakers, tailors, carpenters and craftsmen. It also expanded the hog-fattening project by providing funds for projects in Daet, Camarines Sur and the towns of Taal and Lemery in Batangas

Wary of the increasing incidence of drug use among the youth, the Club mobilized the Rotaract Club of Makati, the membership of which was composed entirely of former drug dependents who had kicked the habit — for good. The Rotaractors were conscripted into a Speakers’ Bureau and sent off to schools and various organizations to share their stories on the evils of drug abuse, the prohibitive cost of rehabilitation, and the toll that addiction takes on relationships and self-worth.

The MRDC, which by then was beginning to evolve into a special school, was given a much-needed financial shot in the arm

ABOVE: From Kaunlaran: Pres. Bert Montinola (second from right)

at a meeting on a project

MIDDLE, RIGHT: Young men from barrios in Makati undergoing

training in preparation for employment under “Operation

Placement”

1976-1977President: Roberto “Bert” J. Montinola †

with a cash donation from the Rotary Club of Tasmania in Australia that helped keep the school afloat that year. The Club in turn began a cultural exchange project that had MRDC sending to a Rotary Club in India a set of dolls depicting the evolution of Philippine national and regional costumes.

Under Pres. Bert’s watch, the Club donated 5,000 books to various schools and libraries in Cebu and Surigao del Sur. The Club also hosted two inbound Rotary Exchange (Rotex) students from Australia and Canada, and supported three Filipino Rotex students bound for New York and Colorado in the United States.

Wary of the increasing incidence of drug use among the youth, the Club mobilized the Rotaract Club of Makati, whose members were former drug dependents who had kicked the habit.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

75

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Edgardo “Hadji” Kalaw is remembered as the brains behind the Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc., the entity that has

placed the Club on a solid financial footing and enabled it to think up and carry out projects that run for years and benefit large numbers rather than those with a one-year shelf life that leave no footprint for good.

During his term, the Club concentrated on building on the good projects initiated by his predecessors.

He expanded the Jomalig Project in a very significant way by organizing the islanders into a cooperative credit union with a small-loans facility that offered credit to fishermen for the purchase of motorized fishing boats. The use of motor-run boats eased the fishermen’s fishing trade, enabling them to focus on catching fish instead of on rowing the boats, and a bigger catch did mean higher income. With the credit union came lessons in management and accounting for the officers, and for the borrowers, the responsibility of paying a loan as it falls due. The year also saw the expansion of the project to include expanded health services, an anti-TB drive, supplemental feeding for the children, and livelihood programs for parents.

The MRDC continued its evolution into a special school under Pres. Hadji, who took steps to add muscle to it. Motivated by a desire to upgrade the quality of instruction in the school, he set in motion the Teacher of the Handicapped Project to provide a stage for training teachers interested in bettering their teaching skills in special education or teachers of other subjects with an eye on a shift to a career in special education.

The Center also served as a platform for internship for some 100 nursing students from San Juan de Dios Hospital who did community service at the Center for seven months and for Physical Therapy interns from UST to conduct a lecture-demo on pediatric care in the school. It was also under the Center that some 200 children were immunized against vaccine-preventable childhood diseases like diphtheria, mumps, pertussis, measles and rubella, while their

Incoming Pres. Hadji Kalaw receives gavel from outgoing Pres. Bert Montinola

1977-1978President: Edgar “Hadji” Kalaw †

parents attended lectures on family planning, nutrition, food management and child care.

In a push for vocational service, the Club provided funding assistance to the Tahanang Walang Hagdan (House without Steps) Foundation, a nonprofit NGO committed to uplifting the lives of orthopedically handicapped persons through training and rehabilitation programs that prepare them to become productive and self reliant. The donation was for the wheelchair-manufacturing facility of the Foundation.

To increase the chances of house help at landing higher-paying jobs, the Club started a training program for maids in cooperation with the Punlaan Training Center in San Juan. The Club also responded to calls for assistance for the victims of fires in Candelaria, Quezon and Brgy. Sta. Cruz, Makati.

He expanded the Jomalig Project in a very significant way by organizing the islanders into a cooperative credit union with a small-loans facility that offered credit to fishermen for the purchase of motorized fishing boats.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

77

Rotary Club Makati

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Guided by the R.I. theme, “Reach Out,” Pres. William “Bill” Beck undertook a procession of projects aimed at lending

a hand to various groups. All in all some 3,600 persons benefited from these programs that spanned such fields as education, skills training, health, and even psychological and religious services.

Its strong advocacy for the health of young children spurred the Club to subsidize a number of nutrition programs, working in tandem with the municipal government and barangay units in running feeding centers for undernourished pre-school and grade school children in the economically challenged sections of Makati under the Mothercraft Project.

With its multi-purpose direction still in place, the MRDC served as a staging point for projects that benefited the Guadalupe Viejo community. These included a supervised credit plan for 17 families badly in need of capital for small businesses, a shampoo-labeling contract with Colgate-Palmolive Philippines that provided part-time employment to a number of unemployed persons, and a workshop for parents of mentally challenged children.

The year marked the launch of the Search for Model Employees, a recognition program for corporate workers with a proven track record of industry, enterprise, and a proper work ethic in the workplace. Fifteen “model employees” were honored as workplace exemplars by the Club during a regular meeting in September, Vocational Service Month.

Induction of club officers and directors for RY 1978-1979 led by Pres. Bill Beck

1978-1979President: William “Bill” Beck

All in all some 3,600 persons benefited from these programs that spanned such fields as education, skills training, health, and even psychological and religious services.

The Club also carried out another run of the nationwide recognition program for outstanding community projects, National Awards for Community Service (NACS) which on that year was renamed National Awards for Barangay Service (NABS) to reflect the change in the term for the smallest political unit, from “barrio” to “barangay.”

Also enjoying another run were the Jomalig Project and Tahanang Walang Hagdan.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

79

Rotary Club Makati

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Rotary Year 1979-1980 was a milestone year for RC Makati, for two reasons.

One, it saw PP Paing Hechanova taking on the post of district governor, the first member from RC Makati to be so elevated and the first governor of the newly created District 382, to which RC Makati belonged.

Two, it marked the birth on RC Makati soil of Rotary’s most ambitious global initiative — PolioPlus, a program that sought to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. The seed of the project was sown in 1979, RI’s 75th anniversary, when RI President James Bomar, taking part in a polio vaccination mission conducted by the Club, administered the first oral polio vaccine to a Filipino child, setting off the PolioPlus program. That event took place in Guadalupe Viejo, site of the Club’s Makati Research and Development Center (MRDC) at the time and of its clubhouse today.

It was a busy year at MRDC, with a long list of projects in its primary focal areas — education and health.

In education, the school worked with the Elsie Gaches Village to conduct a ten-day summer camp in Legaspi City for special-needs children and held a seminar-workshop on special education for public school teachers of Makati and Manila and for MRDC staff; in health, there were seminars on family planning, child care and nutrition for mothers and would-be mothers, immunization and de-worming drives for children, and medical-dental missions for the Guadalupe Viejo community.

With Paing Hechanova as district governor, the task of hosting the district conference fell on RC Makati, his home club. The first district conference of the newly created District 382 put the Club’s event organizing capability to the test, one that it handled with seasoned hands, although it was only its first. The event was highlighted by the presence of RI

LEFT: RI President James Bomar administers polio vaccine to a child. The site is in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, on the property on which the RC Makati clubhouse presently stands.

BOTTOM: Pres. Efren Sales plays cheerleader at a basketball game.

1979-1980President: Efren “Efren” Sales †

It marked the birth on RC Makati soil of Rotary’s most ambitious global initiative — PolioPlus, a program that sought to eradicate polio from the face of the earth.

President-Elect Rolf Klarich as guest of honor and logged a record turnout.

In international service, the Club forged ties with its very first sister club, the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu-Malaysia, a relationship that stands strong to this day, after 37 years. The Club also sponsored the trip of three outbound students and provided homestay to four inbound students under the Rotary Exchange (Rotex) program. The inbound group’s visit was made memorable with a week’s stay in Baguio and participation in the district conference.

Pres. Efren carried on with the Jomalig Project, expanding it to include two livelihood projects — goat dispersal and peanut production. And to ensure the proper handling of the finances of the credit union, its officers were sent to Manila for training in bookkeeping and basic accounting. He also expanded the hog fattening project and to give their enterprise a more organized twist, formed a Hog Raisers’ Association in Brgy. Pitogo in Makati.

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1966 ~ 2016

81

Rotary Club Makati

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RY 1980-1981 was a year of firsts.It saw the launch of the

harelip/cleft palate project that offered surgical correction of said facial deformities among children from families of little means. A club member — Dr. Jorge Neri, a noted plastic surgeon at the Makati Medical Center — volunteered to perform the surgery pro bono. On this, its initial year, Dr. Neri successfully operated on seven harelip and two cleft palate cases.

In tandem with RC Panday Pira, the Club initiated a project aimed at helping agricultural sector workers augment their incomes. Together the two clubs put up a carabao dispersal project that allowed farmers in Llanera, Nueva Ecija to make interest- and collateral-free loans for the purchase of carabaos, with a repayment period of 30 months.

On the international service front, Pres. Froily led a delegation of RC Makati Rotarians on a goodwill caravan through Northern Luzon on

a route that took them to Tarlac in Tarlac province, Baguio City, San Fernando in La Union and Dagupan in Pangasinan. The caravan, the first such trip for the Club, became the precursor of similar trips in the future.

The Club also kicked off three new projects — “Wheelchairs for Zambia,” which was recognized as an Outstanding International Project at the district awards, the “Search for Model Employees,” which was named Most Outstanding Vocational Service Project, and “Ipil-Ipil Seedlings for Korea.”

The interest of international service was served with the inking of sister-club ties with the Rotary Club of Itako-Japan, which grew to become one of the Club’s most fruitful such relationships, and organized a new club, the Rotary Club of Makati East, its third daughter club.

The MRDC Building, expanded during Pres. Froily’s term

Pres. Froily Aragon, seated, second from left, signs sisterhood agreement with RC Itako-Japan. Others in the picture: seated, leftmost, PP Roger Davis; standing l-r: PP Bert Montinola and Rene Paras

1980-1981President: Froilan “Froily” T. Aragon †

The interest of international service was served with the inking of sister-club ties with the Rotary Club of Itako-Japan, which grew to become one of the Club’s most fruitful such relationships

Though an initiator of new projects, Pres. Froily also saw it fit to sustain established ones. He presided over the enlargement of the single-floor MRDC building with the addition of two floors that housed a clinic and an outdoor stage for school programs. The physical expansion allowed the Center to increase the coverage of its community health program and for the school to experiment with new instructional methods and create new curricular modules.

Also given another run was the “National Awards for Barangay Service” which was adjudged the Most Outstanding National Community Program at the district awards program. The Club also won the Best Bulletin award.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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International service was a strong suit under President Ronald “Ronnie” Velayo’s watch.

It was during his term that the Philippines saw the forging on its shores of the first matched districts agreement — between District 382, then led by District Governor Oscar Ravanera, and District 345, which at the time comprised Hong Kong, Macau and the Republic of China. The pact was significant for Pres. Ronnie in that it was brokered by RC Makati.

Preparatory talks in the preceding year bore fruit this year in the form of sister-clubs agreements with three Rotary Clubs in Asia — RC Hou Kuong-Macau, RC Taoyuan-Taiwan and RC Peninsula-Hong Kong, the first two still very much in force. Convinced that visits between clubs are potent tools for reinforcing club ties and keeping relationships fresh, Pres. Ronnie organized trips to Hong Kong to visit RC Peninsula and to Macau to visit RC Hou Kuong. This was the year that the Club started a

campaign for Paul Harris Fellows (PHF) in earnest. The drive yielded remarkable returns with the enlistment of 15 PHFs, a record high that would be broken again and again and again in the years to come.

A new project was also launched under the aegis of MRDC — the Portage Project, with the objective of developing a way for parents to detect mental deficiency in their infants and toddlers and to get them to seek the necessary medical and psychological intervention to help mitigate the condition. Also under the MRDC was a “Sponsor a Child Project,” that solicited donations for the school, specifically to underwrite school

LEFT: Awards ceremony for Search for Model Employees

BELOW: Signing of a RC Makati-brokered matched districts agreement between District 382, to which the Club belonged, and District 345 comprising Macau, Hong Kong and China.

1981-1982President: Ronald “Ronnie” L. Velayo

Finally, after ten years, RC Makati was able to pay in full the P660,000 syndicated bank loan it took to fund the construction of the Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade at the Makati Commercial Center in the early ‘70s.

fees for needy pupils. The MRDC team did their school and the Club proud by turning in an excellent performance at the Pan Pacific Special Olympics for Disabled Children, winning 11 out of 17 medals up for grabs in the competition.

And finally, after ten years, RC Makati was able to pay in full the P660,000 syndicated bank loan it took to fund the construction of the Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade at the Makati Commercial Center in the early ‘70s.

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1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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Nicolas “Nick” Katigbak’s term as club president was highlighted by the visit of RI President Hiroji Mukasa to the

Makati Rotary Development Center (MRDC), where he observed classes and later unveiled a marker commemorating his visit. Given that it is physically impossible for a RI president to visit every Rotary Club in the world during his one-year watch, the visit by President Hiroji was a singular honor for the Club.

That year also marked the second time a club member — Roberto “Bert” Montinola — served as district governor. With him as governor, the twin roles of event organizer and host of the district conference fell on RC Makati. Held at the Manila Garden Hotel (now Dusit Hotel) in February 1983, the discon featured a fashion show with the Club’s Rotary Anns as models. The conference had the distinction of being planned, managed, and wo-manned entirely by the Anns, with no help from the secretariat, then housed at the MRCF arcade just a stone’s throw away from the hotel.

Pres. Nick initiated two community service projects — a “Lunch & Merienda on Wheels” project where mothers of children enrolled in the feeding program prepared simple meals and sold them to office workers in Makati. The projects hit two birds with one stone — income

generation for the participant mothers and partial subsidy for the Club’s nutrition centers. The Club also launched “Sleeping Children Around the World,” under which the Club gave slumber kits with mosquito nets, blankets, and pillows to some 500 homeless children who spent nights on streets and sidewalks and in parks.

His inclination towards community service prompted Pres. Nick to beef up the services of the MRDC with the opening of a medical clinic. Though operated only once a week, the health facility was able to cater to the medical needs of the Guadalupe Viejo community which at the time had no government health center of its own. The Club also inked a memorandum of agreement with the Kilusang Pangkabuhayan at Kaunlaran for a joint project that offered skills training and livelihood opportunities for the community.

The year’s implementation

FROM LEFT:

Mrs. Imelda Marcos is met by Pres. Nick Katigbak as she arrives at the Manila Pen for NACS awards ceremony

RI President Hiroji Mukasa unveils marker commemorating his visit to MRDC. Also in photo, l-r: Pres. Nick Katigbak, PDG Paing Hechanova and DG Bert Montinola

Pres. Nick with Anns Lulu Katigbak (left) and Chinit Rufino in Osaka, Japan for a visit to RC Osaka-Shirokita

1982-1983President: Nicolas “Nick” O. Katigbak †

Another significant achievement during Pres. Nick’s watch was the Club’s foray into brother club territory, a place it had not ventured into in the past.

of the National Awards for Barangay Service was special in that it was graced by the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda Marcos as guest of honor and speaker.

Another significant achievement during Pres. Nick’s watch was the Club’s foray into brother club territory, a place it had not ventured into in the past. This he did by forging brother-clubs ties with two clubs in Camarines Sur — the Rotary Club of Naga and the Rotary Club of Nueva Caceres. Interestingly, Pres. Nick, together with PE Giorgio Bongulielmi, flew to Bicol on a 6-seater private plane for the signing ceremony, and stayed overnight in the city for fellowship with the Bicol Rotarians.

Pres. Nick also headed the RC Makati delegation that flew to Japan to visit the Rotary Club of Osaka-Shirokita and led the welcome party for visiting Rotarians from RC Kota Kinabalu who came to Manila for a renewal of ties with RC Makati.

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1966 ~ 2016

87

Rotary Club Makati

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With the brother clubs door opened the preceding year, Pres. Giorgio Bongulielmi built connections

with the Rotary Club of Vigan that led to a trip to Ilocos Sur by a busload of Rotarians and Anns. The Vigan Rotarians rolled out the red carpet for their Makati guests throughout their three-day visit, taking them on a tour of their city’s cobbled-stone streets, well-preserved heritage houses and churches, and artisan shops, and treating them to Vigan’s culinary gems, from breakfast to dinner. The Vigan trip led to the inking of a matched clubs (a.k.a. brother clubs) agreement between RC Makati and RC Vigan.

The Club also contributed to Rotary growth by creating the Rotary Club of Makati-Ayala, the first club in Makati to meet for breakfast and the Club’s fourth daughter club.

Another important development during Pres. Giorgio’s tenure was the appointment of the Club as the Philippine representative of Direct Relief International (DRI), a US-based humanitarian organization that accepts donations of surplus medical equipment, supplies and medicine from large companies in the United States for re-donation to developing countries around the world.

The Club also kicked off a Sponsor-a-Child fund campaign to raise funds for projects that benefit children and carried on with the operation of the feeding centers for malnourished children in economically challenged sections of Makati.

It was a year of recognition for the Club as Pres. Giorgio was named Most Outstanding Club President-Overall in the yearend awards program of District 382 and RC Makati was conferred a Presidential Citation for Excellence in Carrying out the Rotary Year’s Theme, Share Rotary — Serve People.

The Club was granted two other awards, both non-Rotary: the Golden Globe Highest Award from the Asian Institute of Humanitarian Development and the Golden Harvest Award from the Far East Social Action Civic Organization for the Makati Research & Development Center.

FROM ABOVE:

Visit to Vigan that led to brotherhood agreement with RC Vigan

Fellowship cruise to Corregidor and Puerto Azul

1983-1984President: Giorgio “George” A. Bongulielmi †

It was a year of recognition for the Club as Pres. Giorgio was named Most Outstanding Club President-Overall in the yearend awards program of District 382

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

89

Rotary Club Makati

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The practice of staging entertainment numbers with an all-RC Makati cast on special occasions has become a

cherished tradition in RC Makati. There have been many memorable shows, each a perfect showcase of the talents of club members and the Anns. But for the senior members who have been around in the past 30 years, one show stands out, indelibly etched in the mind despite memory that fades and fails: Channel Rotary.

Channel Rotary was not just a song-and-dance number in an induction ball or charter anniversary program. It was a variety show of songs, dances, skits, and novelty numbers conceived by Gigi Zulueta and woven into a seamless production under the direction of TV executive Freddie Garcia. Two things made the project remarkable: one, the cast’s cheerfulness at rehearsals, which turned into occasions for fellowship (that bred enduring friendships); and two, the willingness of Rotarians — top company executives, leading practitioners of the professions, members of the diplomatic corps, top officers of finance institutions — to do things they had never done before and to have fun from making fun of themselves. This they did for one lofty cause: to raise enough money to extend the life of the Makati Research & Development Center special school, then in dire need of

operational funds, for at least a few more years.

It was during Pres. Cesar Campos’ term that the connection with Direct Relief International (DRI) took root, allowing the Club to make arrangements for the shipping from the United States of medical supplies and medicines for the Club’s first anti-TB project. Funded by a matching grant of US$162,000 from The Rotary Foundation, the first major TRF matching grant received by the Club, the project treated TB patients among families relocated from slums in Manila to new communities in Dasmarinas and Carmona in Cavite.

With the TRF matching grant approved, implementation was set for the following year, with Cesar Campos, by then IPP, named project chair. It was implemented in partnership with the Social Welfare department and Akapka Foundation, both headed by Sec. Mita Pardo de Tavera, who started the directly observed therapy-

RIGHT: “Channel Rotary,” the variety show starring

members and ladies of RC Makati, staged at the

PCI Bank Auditorium on Makati Avenue to raise

funds for MRDC.

BELOW RIGHT: Christmas gift-giving in Brgy. Pio del

Pilar spearheaded by the Anns. Other beneficiaries

were Brgys. La Paz and San Isidro.

1984-1985President: Cesar “Cesar” V. Campos

Channel Rotary was not just a song-and-dance number, it was a variety show of songs, dances, skits, and novelty numbers conceived by Gigi Zulueta.

short course, a treatment strategy that ensures that a TB patient takes the medicine without fail for the prescribed period.

The observation that traffic in the Makati Central Business District (MCBD) was starting to get knotty spurred the Club to think up and launch a traffic management scheme to correct the situation before it turned bad. It thus banded with the Makati City government, Ayala Corporation, and the Bus & Jeepney Drivers’ Association for the Blue Zone Traffic Management Project aimed at easing vehicular flow along the main streets of the district.

With the groundwork laid for the formalization of sister-clubs relations by PP Nick Katigbak’s visit to Japan a couple of years earlier, Pres. Cesar signed a sister-club pact with RC Osaka-Shirokita. A second sister-club agreement with RC Kebayoran of Indonesia was signed as well. Still along the international service line was the initiation of a special exchange project that called for RC Makati families to host the children of Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Peninsula-Hong Kong who came to Manila on a cultural visit.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

91

Rotary Club Makati

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Running a school for profit by a business entity is no child’s play. Running a special school as a public service by

a Rotary Club can be a daunting challenge.Such was the situation RC Makati found

itself in with its operation of the special school, or school for children with special needs, as it is now properly known, given the call for political correctness. Its financial woes were compounded by the fact of a growing population of pupils, many of them with little means whom the school did not have the heart to turn away.

Pres. Leocadio “Cady” Dominguez was in a dilemma, faced with two hard choices: one, opt for a permanent shutdown of a favored project it so wished to sustain but could no longer afford to run on its own; or two, seek assistance from other organizations with similar goals.

The choice was not one but both. First it decided to dissolve MRDC; then it invited seven other Rotary Clubs in Makati to form a new entity to take its place — the Development Center for the Handicapped Foundation, Inc. (DCHFI). While the new Foundation was being organized, school operations were suspended. With a heavy heart, the Club had to let go of its pet project.

With poverty reduction in mind, Pres. Cady initiated a program designed to lend a helping hand to residents of Brgy. San Isidro and Brgy. La Paz, both in Makati. Through the Barangay Upliftment Project, the Club organized a workshop in candle-making for women in La Paz and provided them assistance in marketing their products. Tapping the help of club members, the Club also made arrangements for qualified residents of La Paz and San Isidro to find employment in Rotarians’ companies.

When insurgency in the rural areas became alarming, club members brainstormed ways to help stem the tide of unrest in the countryside before it streamed into the city. It was decided that a positive approach was the best course of action. A new committee was created to organize the Countryside Development Corps, whose task was to undertake a pilot project that would provide employment to jobless residents

ABOVE: Women in La Paz are taught candle making by trainers from NACIDA

BELOW: Pres. Cady Dominguez, leftmost, poses with other Rotarians by the dental chair donated by RC Shirokita for the MRDC health clinic

1985-1986President: Leocadio “Cady” J. Dominguez †

Running a school for profit by a business entity is no child’s play. Running a special school as a public service by a Rotary Club can be a daunting challenge.

of Bulacan in the fields of reforestation as well as repair and maintenance of roads and heavy equipment. To this end, the committee took a trip to a forested area of Bulacan for an ocular inspection of the place and to meet the barangay leaders with whom it would be working.

The Club’s push for international service was made manifest with the inking of a sister-clubs agreement with the Rotary Club of Central Park in Dallas, Texas, sealing the relationship by supporting RC Central Park’s Operation Mercy Project. The Club also received a dental chair and a cash donation from RC Osaka-Shirokita-Japan and cash from RC Itako-Japan and RC Peninsula HK.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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Three major decisions were made by Carlos “Charlie” Rufino during his watch as president.

With the dissolution of MRDC, the Club fast-tracked the formation of the new foundation to get a new school up and running with as minimal a disruption as possible to the pupils’ school routine. The Development Center for the Handicapped Foundation was envisioned to manage and operate a new special school, which was aptly named Stepping Stone Learning Center.

To place the school on solid footing for its first few steps, the foundation hired a US-educated special education specialist to run the school as principal. With finance and management now a shared responsibility among eight Rotary clubs, Stepping Stone was on its way to discharging its mission of molding the young minds of the special-needs students. Financial requirements were eased with the provision by the Club of rent-free space for classes, on top of providing scholarship to three pupils from in-need families.

The second major move was the mainstreaming of the Club-run feeding centers by placing them under the care of the Makati City Government and of various parishes in Makati.

The third was the kick-off for a health initiative that would be a recurrent area of concern for the Club for years to come. The project was a TB Elimination Project funded by a matching grant of US$162,000 from The Rotary Foundation, with support from AKAPKA Foundation, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Direct Relief International. The project covered two sites in the province of Cavite: Carmona and Dasmariñas, where informal settler families from Manila had been relocated. With Social Welfare Sec. Mita Pardo de Tavera as spearhead, DSWD conducted a training program for nurses and volunteer health workers in testing for TB, dispensing medication to

LEFT: Send-off for Emergency Action Van for quick distribution of relief goods to fire victims in San Isidro

BELOW: MRDC-turned-Stepping Stone Learning Center jointly run by 8 clubs led by RC Makati under the Development Center for the Handicapped Foundation.

Club-run nutrition centers in La Paz and San Isidro were turned over to

the Makati government and Catholic parish, respectively

1986-1987President: Carlos “Charlie” S. Rufino

Financial requirements were eased with the provision by the Club of rent-free space for classes, on top of providing scholarship to three pupils from in-need families.

patients, and prevention of contagion to other members of the family.

To improve the Club’s quick response capability in the face of typhoons and other natural disasters, the Club converted a donated container van into a mobile relief center that could be deployed posthaste to deliver food, water, clothes, medicine and other items to places not accessible to small vehicles.

The year marked the setting up in Brgy. San Isidro of a Rotary Village Corps (later renamed Rotary Community Corps) whose initial project was a cooperative store. San Isidro was one of three barangays where the Club put up a soap-making project and helped the women market their products to clients including the Makati City Hall.

Pres. Charlie, making capital of his business and social connections, solicited donations of used bed sheets and towels from hotels in Makati and gave them away to inmates of the Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa.

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1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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For the first time in the Club’s 22-year history, the Club had two presidents in the same Rotary year and responsibility

for running the club was shared in equal parts by the two presidents — Renato “Rene” Paras in the first semester, July-December 1987, and Alfredo “Fred’ Parungao in the second, January-June 1988. The happenstance came about with the resignation of Pres. Rene to assume a European posting with Procter & Gamble, prompting an automatic assumption of the presidency by Vice President Fred.

Two major projects were put in place during the year: the creation of a School for Street Children, which sought to get abused, abandoned, and neglected children off the streets and back to their homes, to their parents and siblings with whom they belonged. The project included a component meant to provide the waifs with basic education and values orientation. The Club joined hands with the Dept. of Social Welfare and other government and private groups, and committed resources for project implementation.

The year also saw the Club starting a new health project —Save-an-Eye. Spurred by reports of the growing number of needy people with failing eyesight who, due to lack of money, were unable to seek medical help, the Save An Eye Project provided eye check-ups and surgery to indigent cataract patients, with a club member, Dr. Vic Caparas, an ophthalmologist, performing the operations for free. The project was able to restore the sight of a good number of needy patients.

Another project in the health sector involved the provision of funds to the “Jaipur Foot Program,” under which the Club donated artificial legs to needy amputees. The project name, “Jaipur,” referred to a town in India where the prosthetic limbs were manufactured. The Club also demonstrated its strong advocacy for the cause of children with special needs by carrying on with its support of the Stepping Stone Learning Center.

LEFT: Turnover by Pres. Fred Parungao of medicine and electric fans to AFP Medical Center under the Assistance to Veterans project

MIDDLE: Launch of school for street children with DSWD Sec. Mita Pardo de Tavera as guest of honor

BELOW: Medicine worth over $333K from Direct Relief International were used for the Club’s health projects and donated to Rotary Clubs and health institutions

1987-1988Presidents: Renato “Rene” L. Paras † and Alfredo “Fred” B. Parungao

Concern for the welfare of soldiers wounded in the series of coup attempts against the government of Pres. Corazon Aquino spurred the Club to put up the Assistance-to-Veterans Project.

Concern for the welfare of soldiers wounded in the series of coup attempts against the government of Pres. Corazon Aquino spurred the Club to put up the Assistance-to-Veterans Project under which it donated wall fans and medicine to the V. Luna Hospital, where the wounded soldiers were confined. The Club’s Emergency Action group also sent relief goods to the victims of a typhoon in Samar.

In international service, the Club initiated Brother Club ties with RC Lipa in Batangas.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

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Rotary Club Makati

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If there is one project the Rotary Club of Makati is most associated with and best known for, it is Books Across the Seas, or

BATS.The shining legacy of Pres. Jesus “Gigi”

Zulueta, BATS is a book distribution scheme that was originally run jointly by the U.S. Embassy’s United States Information Service (USIS) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). In 1988 it was passed on to the Club after due diligence by the USIS and AmCham assured them that RC Makati was the right organization to bequeath it to, given its track record in public service and its possession of the resources required to sustain operations for a long time.

The Club has since reinforced its links with the Brother’s Brother Foundation, a charitable foundation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from which the Club sources the books it distributes to schools. Now on its 27th year, BATS is the longest running project operated on its own by RC Makati, without assistance from other Rotary Clubs. As of yearend of 2015, it had distributed 15 million books to 65,000 schools throughout the country.

Another project Pres. Gigi gets credit for is the Christmas Bazaar, an enduring fund generator that fattened the Club’s purse by well over 12 million in its 25-year run, from its first at the Manila Polo Club in November 1988 that brought in less than P55,000 in net revenue, to its final one at the Intercon Hotel in November 2013 that brought in proceeds of P1,256,000.00 net. Following the template set by First Ann J’net Zulueta in 1988, subsequent bazaars were chaired by the Ann of the sitting president.

The year also saw the Club building a link with Heartbeat International for the Rotary Pacemaker Project, under which the Club donated pacemakers to 10 patients on Year One and more in succeeding years.

Pres. Gigi also set up a microfinance project dubbed Bangko Pag-asa, which that year granted small loans to 11 small entrepreneurs in Brgy. La

LEFT: The first Christmas Bazaar at the Manila Polo Club in November 1988 that kicked off a fundraising initiative that ran for 25 years

MIDDLE: One of 10 recipients of pacemakers under Heartbeat International’s Rotary Pacemaker Project

BELOW: The start of the 27-year Books Across the Seas (BATS) project that has distributed over 15 million books to some 65,000 schools across the country.

1988-1989President: Jesus “Gigi” M. Zulueta, Jr.

RY 1988-1989 was a banner year crowned with a hail of awards from the district, including the much coveted twin awards: Most Outstanding Club-Overall and Most Outstanding President-Overall.

Paz, Makati. The project was so well-managed that it boasted a repayment rate of nearly 100%.

A boost on the international service front came with the initiation of one new matched-clubs relations — with the Rotary Club of Rochester in Michigan, USA, and the renewal of an old one — with the Rotary Club of Vigan. The signing of the renewal agreement was the culmination of a visit to the Ilocos Sur capital where the Club conducted a medical mission and distributed books to schools.

RY 1988-1989 was a banner year crowned with a hail of awards from the district at the yearend awards program, including the much coveted twin awards: Most Outstanding Club-Overall and Most Outstanding President-Overall. The Club was also recognized with awards as Most Outstanding Club in Club Service, Most Outstanding Club in Community Service, and Most Outstanding Club in International Service, and for the Most Significant Achievement Award for Books Across the Seas, and Most Outstanding Club Bulletin. The awards were conferred by the district on its final year as District 381.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

99

Rotary Club Makati

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It was on this year, under the watch of Pres. Reynaldo “Rey” Adriano, that the Medical Missions Project was born. A brainchild and

pet project of Serafin “Boy” Hilvano, a surgeon at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the project started on Boy’s very first year as a member of the Club. Now on its 26th year of operations, this joint RC Makati-PGH project undertaking offers indigent patients free surgery for hernia, hemorrhoids, gall stones, breast cancer, goiter, and meningocoele and has benefited way over a thousand grateful patients since its inception in 1989.

It was under Pres. Rey’s watch that the Club launched a project under the Vocational Service umbrella — the Makati Rotary Training Center (MRTC). Conceived and set to motion by Vinci Roco as a skills development facility for out-of-school youth as well as un- and underemployed men and women, the project offered a computer operation course and high-speed sewing classes, with support from project partners and sponsors — from the private sector, the Ayala Foundation and the Philippine Computer Society; from the government, the

University of Life, National Manpower & Youth Council, and Apparel & Textile Industry Board Foundation. The Center also offered post-training assistance to sewing class trainees who successfully passed the course by recommending them for jobs in garment factories owned by Rotarians. MRTC ran for several years, helping hundreds of people transition from unskilled to skilled to gainfully employed.

Six years after its last run, the National Awards for Barangay Service was revived under its original name, National Awards for Community Service. With San Miguel Corporation as sponsor, the nationwide search for outstanding community projects culminated in May 1990 with a program that honored three top winners.

The Club kept up with its support of soldiers, especially those hurt, maimed or killed in the successive coups d’etat, failed attempts at overthrowing

RIGHT: Pres. Rey Adriano hands trophy to a winner of the National

Awards for Community Service

BELOW: The year marked the launch of the Medical Missions Project under

which indigent patients undergo surgery at the PGH. Still running to

this day, the project was initiated and carried through by the late Dr. Boy

Hilvano (center)

1989-1990President: Reynaldo “Rey” A. Adriano

Now on its 26th year of operations, this joint RC Makati-PGH project that offers indigent patients free surgery has benefited way over a thousand grateful patients since its inception in 1989.

the Cory Aquino government, demonstrating its stand against violence with a substantial donation to the Alay sa Kawal Foundation.

Its concern for health found manifestation in its donation of badly-needed equipment to the pediatric ward of Ospital ng Makati and the medical missions it undertook in several places — Cabanelas in Makati’s Brgy. La Paz, Bauang in La Union, Manila, and Butuan in distant Mindanao.

The medical mission in La Union laid the groundwork for the forging of a brother-clubs agreement with the Rotary Club of Bauang, which flourished for over a decade.

It must be noted that Pres. Rey’s term marked yet another district renumbering plan that saw District 381 become District 3810.

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RY 1990-1991 made itself felt with a great tremor, literally — a 7.8 magnitude quake epicentered in

Nueva Ecija, with power radiating northward to the Cordilleras, eastward to Aurora, and southward to Metro Manila. It struck with shocking force, toppling buildings, collapsing bridges and causing landslides that blocked access to many place to ring in destruction, disease, and death. It was a dramatic, if tragic, welcome for the Club’s 25th charter anniversary year under Pres. Teodoro “Ted” Borlongan.

One of the places bent and broken by the massive shaking was Bauang, La Union, where a brother club, RC Bauang, was based. When Bauang Rotarians sent a S.O.S. to the Club, Pres. Ted, fully aware of the urgency in the appeal, immediately organized a fitting response. On top of a move to fill immediate needs for food, medicine, personal hygiene items, clothes, blankets and mats, the Club turned to addressing a longer-range but no less urgent need by undertaking the reconstruction of a school building in Brgy. Pilar that had been badly damaged by the quake.

On the home front, the Club intensified the operations of the MRTC with financial injections from the Club and technical support from the Ayala Foundation, Phil. Computer Society, and a new partner, Systems Technology Inc.(STI). Offerings that year included the Information Technology Outreach Program, a 5-month computer course, a high-speed sewing class, and short courses in baking, cooking, food preservation, and various types of body massage.

The Club also donated P520,000 worth of TB medicine to the Makati Medical Center for its TB Control Project in Brgy. Singkamas and distributed over 900,000 books to schools across the country under BATS.

Under the Brother Clubs Committee, the Club entered into a matched-clubs relationship with RC Davao, its first with a club in Mindanao. It also exercised its skill at planning and

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:

In the aftermath of the deadly quake of 1990, the Club organized quick-response assistance to affected communities in Pampanga. Photo shows Rotarians posing in what’s left of a house near Clark in Pampanga.

Charter members and presidents in a toast on the Club’s silver anniversary ball in July 1990

Pres. Ted leads distribution of relief goods to quake victims

1990-1991President: Teodoro “Ted” C. Borlongan †

The Club also donated P520,000 worth of TB medicine to the Makati Medical Center for its TB Control Project in Brgy. Singkamas and distributed over 900,000 books to schools across the country under BATS.

flexed its event organizing muscles by hosting the Asia Workshop under World Community Service, which assembled over a hundred Rotarians from six countries in Asia.

The Club made up for the year’s heart-rending start in mid-July with a bright climax leading up to the end of the year — the grand Silver Anniversary Ball in celebration of the Club’s 25th Charter Anniversary in March 1991. This felicitous occasion, a high point in Club history, was announced to the public with a full-page advertorial in major broadsheets that featured a bullet-point presentation of the Club’s major accomplishments since 1966.

Pres. Ted nips ceremonial ribbon at reopening of a school house in Bauang, La

Union reconstructed by the Club

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1991, he organized another fundraiser, a Super Family Bingo at the Manila Polo Club that generated another P400,000. The combined proceeds from these two fundraising events made it possible for the Club to help the Rotary Club of Dau in Pampanga, one of the areas that suffered most from the volcanic eruption, build a Livelihood Training Center where local folk received training to acquire immediately employable skills.

A more long-range assistance package came to the Loob Bunga Resettlement Village in Botolan, Zambales, another place devastated by Pinatubo, in the form of a potable water system which the Club constructed in cooperation with the Philippine Business for Social Progress.

With its ties with RC Dau firmly secured, RC Makati established brother-clubs relations with the Pampanga club, and expanded the Club’s brother clubs roster by forging ties with the Rotary Club of Cebu, one of the oldest Rotary clubs in the Philippines.

It was also on this year that the idea for a fire safety organization was conceived. This led to the establishment in 1996 of the Makati Fire Safety Authority (MAFSAFI) to enforce compliance with the Fire and Building Codes among structures in Makati and develop a culture of safety and disaster preparedness

among residents and workers. The Foundation, in tandem with the Bureau of Fire Protection, conducts annual building inspections and recognizes buildings that comply with said Codes. RC Makati is a founding member of MAFSAFI.

Under Pres. Fidel’s leadership, the Club threw its support behind the district’s Sight & Light Program, a project aimed at preventing nutritional blindness caused by Vit. A deficiency among the poor.

That year ended on a bright note with the recognition of the Stepping Stone Learning Center as “The Best School of its Kind” in Metro Manila in affirmation of its excellent educational, counseling, occupational and therapy programs.

The term of Pres. Fidel “Fidel” Alfonso in RY 1991-1992 reached a high point with the testimonial dinner it

organized for President Corazon “Cory” Aquino at the ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati. The event packed a full house of Rotarians from 14 Rotary Clubs and reps from top broadcast and print news organizations, evidencing RC Makati’s influence and stature as the premier Club in the district. The clubs conferred an Outstanding Leadership Award and a Paul Harris Fellowship on President Aquino and presented her with a sculptured glass trophy.

With 1992 an election year, the Club hosted a joint meeting with presidential candidates Fidel V. Ramos and Salvador Laurel as the guest speakers.

Hardly had the country recovered from the shock of the previous year’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake than Nature delivered another blow, a strike so massive, it turned Central Luzon into a veritable wasteland, altered the lay of the land, and changed weather patterns, effects that would linger for decades to come.

When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in mid-1991, spewing 311 years’ worth of lava, ash, sand, and rocks that blocked out the sun and turned day into night, people everywhere stood open-

mouthed and helpless, not knowing what had hit them, let alone what to do. But not for long.

Gathering their wits, Makati Rotarians quickly rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Dipping into their pockets, their companies’ and their own, they quickly raised some P500,000 for a Pinatubo Assistance Program designed to bring relief to Central Luzon communities where houses had collapsed from the weight of sand, rivers had dried up, and flora and fauna had died or were dying. To help the hungry huddled in temporary shelters, they brought food, medicine, clothes, water, and personal care items, as well as hundreds of blankets and portable beds.

A look at the situation prompted Pres. Fidel to think up other means to generate funds. In addition to proceeds of P400,000 from the annual Christmas Bazaar in November

FROM LEFT:

Delivery of portable beds and relief goods to quake victims in Pampanga under the Pinatubo Assistance Program

The club-funded Rotary Training Center of RC Dau in Pampanga: at groundbreaking

MIDDLE: Pres. Fidel Alfonso awards Paul Harris Fellow pin and certificate to President Corazon Aquino at RC Makati-led Testimonial Dinner in her honor. The clubs also conferred on her an Outstanding Leadership Award.

1991-1992President: Fidel “Fidel” M. Alfonso

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Aside from its excellent performance in the vocational and community service departments, the Club recorded gains in the other avenues of service: under Youth, the formation of two Rotaract Clubs; under Club Service, an essay writing contest on the Four-Way Test in six public high schools in Makati; and under International Service, the enlistment of 30 new Paul Harris Fellows, a new record for the Club, and the initiation of brother-club relations with the Rotary Club of Cavite East.

The year ended on a happy note with the Club receiving two major awards during the district yearend awards: Most Outstanding Club in District 3810 and Overall Award of Excellence in The Rotary Foundation.

The Club’s Pinatubo Assistance Program took a different turn under Pres. Armand “Jun” Braun as it focused on

meeting a need that is usually without obvious outward manifestations, but just as real, and critical, as the need for basic physical needs. It turned its attention to families sheltered in the Clark Air Base Command (Cabcom) evacuation center, where it put in place a Psycho-Social Development Project, under which they underwent stress management and counseling in periodic sessions with psychologists.

On the practical side, RC Dau carried on with training programs and job placement assistance in the RC Makati- funded livelihood center.

What made it possible for the Club to implement the Pinatubo project and other assistance plans were two fundraising activities that generated a combined revenue of nearly P1.4 million — the Christmas Bazaar and a second run of the Super Family Bingo.

The fresh funds also put MRTC in a position to intensify its training programs, conducting various courses for a record 17 batches of trainees, including out-of-school youth and employed persons wanting to acquire a new skill. The year ended with 197 graduates skilled

enough to battle it out on the job market.

It was an active time for community service. The assistance program for Cabanelas ni Brgy. La Paz received a strong shot in the arm with the establishment of a cooperative sari-sari store from which residents bought everyday items at cheaper prices and whose operation provided community leaders with a platform for learning the rudiments of business management and accounting. With the observation that the barangay had many obviously undernourished children, the Club enlisted the assistance of the Rotary Village Corps for a supplemental feeding project that provided free meals to underweight children. In the area of health, 13 medical missions were held, three in select communities, the rest, surgical missions at the PGH.

FROM LEFT:

Photo op during a break at the fundraising Super Family Bingo at the Manila Polo Club

Pres. Jun Braun leads in the distribution of goods to flood victims

BELOW: Pres. Jun and Ann Marlo (both in black tops) join Medial Missions chair Boy Hilvano (leftmost) and doctors at the PGH

1992-1993President: Armand “Jun” F. Braun, Jr.

What made it possible for the Club to implement the Pinatubo project and other assistance plans were two fundraising activities that generated a combined revenue of nearly P1.4 million — the Christmas Bazaar and the Super Family Bingo.

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victims still living in the Cabcom evacuation center. The massive expansion in project coverage, which entailed a substantial funding increase, was made possible by a windfall from the Christmas Bazaar and Super Family Bingo that together added P1.55 M to the club purse.

Also made possible by the bonanza was the Christmas Package Drive under which 300 gift bags were handed out to as many families in Brgy. Pitogo and Brgy. Cabanelas/La Paz in Makati and gift packs were given to 1,200 children in Smoky Mountain.

It also enabled the expansion of the MRTC training program with the initiation of a course for young men and women interested in finding employment as waiters and bartenders, winning recognition for the Center as the Most Outstanding Vocational Service Project at the district yearend awards. In recognition of this first such vocational project, RI President Bob Barth visited Manila and personally handed the “RI International Award for Vocational Services for Year 1993-94” to the Club during his visit to Manila.

RC Makati was awarded as the Most Outstanding Club and President, Large Clubs category, for year 1993-94. The Club reached a high of 210 members, with 19 nationalities and 75% average attendance during the weekly

meetings. Committee activities were effectively orchestrated together with then Club Secretary Ramon “Mon” Gonzales.

International service was not left out of the service loop, either. The Club forged brother club ties with the Rotary Club of Laoag in Ilocos Norte and Rotary Club of Downtown Mabalacat in Pampanga, and sister club relations with RC Pohang North of South Korea.

RY 1993-1994 recorded three firsts for the Club consistent with its vision to position RC Makati as the leading and

naturally preferred organization for those who want to serve others and the community.

One, President Jose “Joe” Alejandro organized the first Makati Town Hall Meeting that assembled leaders of various sectors of the community for a discussion of the proposal to build the LRT II mass transit system along EDSA, passing Makati — its pros and cons in relation to safety and privacy for the residential subdivisions and buildings along the way, the national economy, and the convenience of the riding public. It concluded with Makati officially giving its official consent for the LRT II to pass through the Makati segment of EDSA.

Two, Pres. Joe initiated the Parol sa Makati, a project that sought to revive the Filipino tradition of crafting lanterns at Christmastime to encourage creativity and resourcefulness through a lantern-making competition among the barangays of Makati.

The contest required the use of natural materials such as leaves, twigs, bamboo sticks, and tree bark and/or throw-away materials such as plastic straw, bottle caps, paper cups, and old newspapers. The lanterns were displayed at the old Glorietta after a parade around the streets of

the Makati Commercial Center, and the makers of the best lanterns were awarded cash prizes.

Three, the First All-Makati Rotary Golf Tournament for Community Service, the proceeds of which funded 15 community projects.

Reinforcing its leadership in the district, the Club organized the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) of District 3810 that packed a record-breaking 700 youth-leader delegates. It also increased the number of awardees in the National Awards for Community Service from three to four and the prize money from P50,000 to P75,000 per winner, both moves intended to encourage wider participation in the years ahead.

The beneficiary base of the Psycho-Social Project for Mt.Pinatubo victims saw a huge expansion from an initial 54 families to 403, for a sevenfold-plus increase that brought the psychological benefits of the project to more of the Pinatubo

FROM TOP LEFT: The club-organized town hall forum on LRT III that led to the approval of the passage through Makati-EDSA of the light rail system

Culmination of “Parol sa Makati” at Glorietta in Makati, a project initiated by Pres. Joe to promote the Christmas lantern-making tradition among Makati barangays. In photo with the winners, l-r: Ann Marilou Alejandro, Ann Didi Payumo, PDG Bert Montinola, Pres. Joe Alejandro and Rtn. Ruben Payumo

RI President Bob Barth (left) presents 1994 RI Award for the Most Outstanding Vocational Service Project to Pres. Joe Alejandro.

President Bob Barth is briefed on RC Makati projects by Pres. Joe on his visit to the clubhouse.

1993-1994President: Jose “Joe” S. Alejandro

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Inked during the year were Sister Club ties with RC Kuala Lumpur-Diraja in Malaysia, RC Bangkok in Thailand, and RC Sarasota, Florida, USA.

The year also marked the setting of two records — one, for the 40 Paul Harris Fellows enlisted; and two, the induction of an impressive 34 new members and a net gain of 11.

The Club enjoyed a flood of honors from the district including the two most prized ones. Most Outstanding Club Overall and Most Outstanding Club President Overall. The Club also received awards for Most Outstanding Club in Club Service and Most Outstanding Club in The Rotary Foundation contributions, as well as for Best Matching Grant Project for the Mobile Eye Clinic and Best Youth Development Project for its staging of the RYLA seminar.

Two new projects were started under the watch of Pres. Juan Carlos “Carlos” del Rosario.

The Mobile Eye Clinic was a medical facility on wheels equipped with state-of-the-art machines and tools to perform surgery on eye patients. Funded by a US$50,000 matching grant from The Rotary Foundation, it was a container van transformed into an operating room with everything needed by an eye doctor to perform surgical procedures to correct cataract and glaucoma. The Club also took part in Oplan Alis Disease, a nationwide campaign against diseases that can be prevented with immunization.

The year saw the inception of a new advocacy at the instance of PP Cesar Campos: Teaching the Deaf to Speak. It is actually a means of support to the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, a school that pioneered the method of teaching hearing-impaired children how to communicate through the spoken word instead of through the traditional hand signals.

The BATS book distribution project received a much-needed financial boost — one, a donation of P1 million from Allied Bank, which also made available to the project rent-free use of a huge warehouse in Novaliches for storing and sorting books prior to release; and two, a matching grant of US$12,000 from The Rotary Foundation to step up operations so that more books can reach more schools and libraries in the country. The Allied Bank donation served as a back-up fund for BATS, while the warehouse is still being used by the project as storage facility for books.

The Club also hosted two district events — the District RYLA Seminar and the District Family Olympics and was able to raise close to P950,000 from the Christmas Bazaar.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pres. Carlos at inauguration of the Mobile Eye Clinic that enabled Dr. Vic Caparas to conduct surgery on cataract patients around Metro Manila

Pres. Carlos del Rosario (leftmost) after recognition of a granddaughter of Sonny Tambunting (rightmost) as a Paul Harris Fellow

Cataract mission in Pakil, Laguna

Pres. Carlos dispenses polio vaccine to a child

1994-1995President: Juan Carlos “Carlos” del Rosario

The year saw the inception of a new advocacy at the instance of PP Cesar Campos: Teaching the Deaf to Speak.

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Under Vocational Service, 130 out-of-school youth successfully completed the computer literacy course and high-speed sewing classes at the Makati Rotary Training Center, and were sent on their way to finding a job. The Club also launched special tutorial classes for academically-challenged senior high school students at the Pamantasan ng Makati Technical High School.

In a tie-up arrangement with Chowking, Nestle and the Makati City Government, the Club printed 10,000 copies of “Lutong Pangkalusugan,” a cookbook of easy-to-prepare and low-cost recipes, and distributed them to mothers in the different barangays in Makati. The three sponsors also partnered for cooking demonstrations in chosen barangays using the recipes in the cookbook.

The Club expanded its sister club roster by inking an agreement with RC Moscow and raised some P1.3 million from the Christmas Bazaar.

This year marked the conception of an educational program with the objective of upgrading instructional methods and

materials in the public schools, with the goal of narrowing the gnawing gap in the quality of education between private and public schools.

To Pres. Evergisto “Ever” Macatulad belongs the credit for this noble idea that took form in the Teacher Training Program. His term in effect served as the launch pad for the project, a period during which the idea jelled and was consolidated into a project brief that set objectives, targets, and budgets, named project partners and defined their roles, and drew program mechanics. The idea was to provide extensive training to public school teachers in the teaching of three core subjects — English, Mathematics and Science — in order to upgrade instruction in their schools. The Club allotted P1.2 million for the initial phase of project implementation that called for providing scholarships to 100 teachers for a one-year, a masteral-level certificate program at the Ateneo de Manila University.

With the families displaced by Mt. Pinatubo still living in evacuation sites four years after the volcanic outburst, the Club carried on with its assistance program, conducting timed visits to the CabCom area to distribute food, medicine, laundry and personal hygiene products and other basic need items. That year some 600 families received about P1.5 million worth of relief goods.

Wanting to take full advantage of the Mobile Eye Clinic launched the preceding year, Pres. Ever conducted missions in Cabanelas in Brgy. La Paz to test and screen residents for eye ailments that may be surgically corrected in the OR on wheels. Surgeries were performed on a number of cataract patients who were also fitted with intra-ocular lenses, all for free. Still in the health department, the Club donated to Ospital ng Makati’s neonatal care unit P300,000 worth of medical equipment critical to the care of newborn babies.

FROM LEFT: Orientation for teachers in the lead-up to the launch of the post-grad level Teacher Training Program for public school teachers at the Ateneo

Pres. Ever Macatulad orchestrates relief operations in Pampanga

Distribution of cookbooks for low-cost meals in a barangay in Makati

Pres. Ever looks on as Jay Savage hands books to a public school librarian under the Books Across the Seas Project

1995-1996President: Evergisto “Ever” Macatulad †

That year some 600 families received about P1.5 million worth of relief goods.

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RI. Pres. Luis Giay gracing the occasion as guest of honor.

Having logged another record-setter with the generation of P1.5 million in net proceeds from the Christmas Bazaar, the Club adopted the Tejeros Tenement in Makati as its adopted community, delivering a package of services to the residents, including a reading center for young children, training in high-speed sewing for women, and scholarships in computer education at the MRTC to 72 youths. The Club also distributed cookbooks and conducted cooking demonstrations in Tejeros, as well as in Brgy. Pembo and West Rembo, and donated $40,000 worth of medicines from the Brother’s Brother Foundation to the PGH.

The year was crowned with felicitous honors at the district yearend awards of District 3810, with its recognition as the Most Outstanding Club-Overall and of Pres. Ric as Most Outstanding Club President-Overall, the district’s most coveted and prized twin awards. The Club received a string of other awards to boot: Best Club Bulletin, Best Fund-Raising Project for the Christmas Bazaar, Best Career Development Project for the Career Guidance Program, Best Education Program for Books Across the Seas, Best Recognition Program for the ROYAL Awards, and Highest Contribution to TRF.

With the ground all prepped for the implementation of the Teacher Training Program, Pres. Ricardo

“Ric” Librea started the ball rolling in a big way with the deployment of the first batch of scholars, 100 public school teachers from Makati, to Ateneo de Manila University for an intensive course on teaching the three core subjects of English, Science and Math. As agreed upon, the Club provided the funding, the Department of Education, Sports and Culture (DECS) took care of screening and selecting the teachers, while the Ateneo assumed responsibility for the course design, as well as project implementation and evaluation. This initial phase was funded by a P1.2 million outlay approved by the Club in the previous year. The project later prompted the creation of the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) which became the umbrella under which the project was carried out in succeeding years.

Still on Education, the Club received a TRF matching grant of $12,000 for the purchase of equipment and materials for two especially-equipped audiovisual rooms at the Philippine Institute for the Deaf. The machines were used to create exercises to help hearing-impaired students develop gradual use of their auditory and speech faculties for communication. The Club also held

career talks for the graduating class of a public school in Makati to offer guidance in their choice of courses to take in college.

The year scored a new record in the number of Paul Harris Fellows enlisted in a single year — an impressive 51 PHFs with a monetary value of $51,000, a record that stood for 19 long years, broken only on the Club’s 50th anniversary year in 2015-2016. Putting this contribution to use for the Club, Pres. Ric assigned $34,500 in restricted TRF funds to finance Club projects, including the National Resource Center for the Handicapped, a library-plus at the Stepping Stone Learning Center.

The year also marked the launch of the Rotary Youth in Action & Leadership (ROYAL) Awards, a nationwide search for the most outstanding youth projects in the area of the environment. The awards ceremony took place in Cebu, with

FROM LEFT: At the graduation of the first batch of teacher-scholars at the Ateneo under the Teacher Training Program

At the launch of the Rotary Youth Action & Leadership Awards, a nationwide search for outstanding youth leaders

Pres. Ric Librea beams with his trophy as Most Outstanding President-Overall at the District Awards in 1997. The Club also bagged the Most Outstanding Club-Overall prize.

1996-1997President: Ricardo “Ric” G. Librea

The year scored a new record in the number of Paul Harris Fellows enlisted in a single year — an impressive 51 PHFs with a monetary value of $51,000, a record that stood for 19 long years

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2013. Implemented jointly with the Makati Social Welfare Department, it is credited with establishing the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children in Makati and Bantay Bata desks in barangay halls and police stations in the city. It also conducts seminars and workshops on various aspects of child abuse and child protection for barangay volunteers and social workers, seminars on responsible parenting for parents, and out-of-town camps and social activities, as well as counseling and spiritual retreats for victims of child abuse and neglect.

The year set yet another record in the ways and means department by netting P1.6 million in revenues from the Christmas Bazaar.

For the second year in a row, the Club was conferred the highest honors at the district yearend awards — Most

Outstanding Club-Overall and, for Pres. Isidro “Sid” Garcia, Most Outstanding Club President-Overall.

It was a banner year in International Service. The Club applied for two matching grants totaling $80,000 from The Rotary Foundation — for the Makati Service Cooperative, which offered skills training and gainful employment to Makati residents; and the National Resource Center for the Handicapped, a facility physically connected to the Stepping Stone Learning Center that offered information and assistance on physical, mental and psychological handicaps to students, teachers and parents.

The Club also hosted two inbound Group Study Exchange Teams, one from D-5100 in Oregon, USA, the other from D-9450 in Western Australia, enlisted 24 Paul Harris Fellows, and contributed $10,000 for two matching grant projects to Sister Club RC Kuala Lumpur Diraja of Malaysia as an international project partner.

The worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila, the Makati Central Business District in particular, called for the Club to assemble a Metro Manila Traffic Forum among stakeholders for a spirited discussion of the situation and what can be done about it in terms of infrastructure, systems, rules and ordinances. The forum led to the revival of the Blue Zone Traffic Management Project that assigned loading and unloading points, one-way and two-way streets, and pedestrian crossing points, deployed more traffic enforcers, and put in place other measures to ease the flow of vehicular and human traffic in the metro.

Launched during the year was a project that runs to this day — Bantay Bata. A brainchild of lawyer Frank Chavez, the project initially ran on a seed fund of P250,000 secured from Pagcor by Frank, who chaired the project until his passing in

FROM TOP LEFT: Photo op during the visit to Manila of RI President Glen Kinross, L-R, seated: Past RI President Mat Caparas, RI President Glen, Past RI Director Paing Hechanova; standing, RC Makati Past Pres. Carlos del Rosario and Pres. Sid Garcia

A club-organized traffic forum called attention to the worsening traffic situation in the metro and invited suggestions on solutions to the problem

Donation of an artesian well to the Tejeros Tenement community

At Makati City Hall: Launch of the Bantay Bata Project for the protection of children from abuse and neglect. A brainchild of the late Frank Chavez, the project is a collaboration between the club and the Makati DSWD and continues to the present.

1997-1998President: Isidro “Sid” G. Garcia

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for the Handicapped and two, for the Makati Multipurpose Cooperative.

Being a founding member of the Makati Fire Safety Foundation Inc. (MAFSAFI), the Club joined hands with other MAFSAFI members and the Bureau of Fire Protection for the staging of the first Makati Fire Safety Compliance Awards, a recognition program for buildings and enterprises that have complied with the Fire and Building Codes of the Philippines. The awarding ceremony was timed to serve as the culminating activity for the observance of Fire Prevention Month in March. Earlier on, the Foundation organized two seminars and a forum on fire safety awareness in the lead-up to Fire Prevention Month.

Another project set in motion this year that has endured to the present is the Last Angel Project, a Christmas gift-giving activity conceived by Ann Brin Panlilio as an adjunct of the Christmas Bazaar, which that year delivered a record P1.675 million to the Club treasury. Both the bazaar and the Last Angel were chaired by First Ann Angela Quila.

In Community Service, the Club organized several medical missions that benefited 1,350 patients and delivered gift bags to the residents of Guadalupe Viejo and the wards of the Makabata Foundation under the aegis of the Christmas Package Drive.

A mere 5 years after serving as Club President, Tony Quila took on the helm of District 3830 as governor on Rotary’s

most auspicious year — its 100th anniversary. As Centennial Governor, Gov. Tony led the district in celebration through a year-long program of service and fellowship, scoring many achievements — highest in district history in unrestricted Paul Harris contributions of $180,000, highest per capita TRF contribution, and highest net membership growth in district history, among others. These accomplishments earned him an RI Centennial Leadership Award, the only Filipino governor so honored and one of only 100 (out of 529 governors) recipients of said award in the world.

During his term as president, the Club won approval for 3 matching grants: for the Heather Kinross Center for Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Dev’t., the National Resource Center for the Handicapped and the Makati Multipurpose Cooperative.

The Heather Kinross Center for Skills Training & Entrepreneurial Development, Heather Kinross Center for short, was the up-leveled version of the long-running Makati Rotary Training Center and the Club’s direct response to Rotary’s challenge to help reduce poverty in the world.

Named in honor of the late Heather Kinross,

wife of Glen Kinross, RI president in 1997-1998, it was conceived by Pres. J. Antonio “Tony” Quila as a concrete expression of his desire to “teach a man how to fish rather than give him fish” and a means to arm men and women with employable skills to earn a decent living and better their lives. Its offerings on its maiden year were a five-month, comprehensive course on information technology called Information Technology Outreach Program (ITOP) for out-of-school youth and a short course for would-be electricians.

The Center was the recipient of a $40,000 matching grant from The Rotary Foundation for a program that sought to create opportunities for livelihood in the form of jobs or micro businesses for residents of the Tejeros Tenement Housing, the Club’s adopted community. Two other matching grants, applied for in the year prior, were approved and released this year — one, for the National Resource Center

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Fellowship trip to Nepal arranged by Honorary Consul Gigi Zulueta

Inauguration of the Heather Kinross Center for vocational training, L-R: Roland Young, PRID Paing Hechanova, DG Jun Perez and Pres. Tony Quila

Pres. Tony delivering gifts at Christmas Package Drive

Pres. Tony (leftmost) at 33rd charter anniversary with Gov. Sonny Coloma (rightmost) and charter members, L-R: PDG Bert Montinola, Louie Lipio, Carding de Leon, Linda Panlilio standing in for husband Bec Panlilio, PP Roger Davis and Tito Picornell

1998-1999President: J. Antonio “Tony” M. Quila

Pres. Tony led a Club delegation on a week-long fellowship trip to the Kingdom of Nepal, arranged with the Nepal Consular Office headed by Honorary Consul Jesus Zulueta, and a 16-person delegation to the 1999 RI Convention in Singapore.

In celebration of the Club’s 33rd anniversary, he enlisted 33 new Paul Harris Fellows, one for every year of the Club’s existence.

In 2002-2003, Pres. Tony received the Service Above Self Award from Rotary International, one of six in the Club so honored.

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the Rotaract Tulong-Tulong Tayo Club, which sponsored a movie premier to raise funds for their projects, and the Rotaract Club of San Antonio Parish, which conducted catechism classes for children in Guadalupe Viejo.

Under Ways & Means, the Rotary Anns were able to raise P1.57 million from the Christmas Bazaar and, carrying on with the Last Angel Project, brought gifts to some 700 kids in select communities, project sites, and orphanages, with the Anns personally delivering the presents to them.

The Club also manifested its advocacy for the protection of the environment by undertaking a massive tree-planting activity in which Rotarians fanned out to different sections of the South Superhighway, from Makati to Muntinlupa, to plant trees on designated spots.

The efforts of the International Service directorate culminated in the signing of a memorandum of agreement establishing sister-club relations with the Rotary Club of Hong Kong, “mother” of all HK Rotary Clubs.

The year ended with Pres. Tito and Ann Brin leading a large delegation of 25 RC Makati Rotarians and Anns on a fellowship tour of Australia and South America, en route to Buenos Aires, Argentina where they represented the Club, and the then fledgling District 3830, in the RI Convention.

Pres. Cristino “Tito” Panlilio was the first president to serve under the newly formed District 3830.

This year is best remembered for a successful water project that ought to be a template for replication. Putting his expertise in waterworks to good use for Rotary, Pres. Tito constructed a water system designed to deliver piped water straight to the homes of an initial 1,000 families in three neighboring barangays — Panipuan, Molino and Balite — in San Fernando, Pampanga. The project was funded by a 3-H grant of US$189,000 from TRF, the Club’s first and only 3H grant so far, including a contribution of $9,250 from District 2820-Ibaraki, Japan, the Club’s international partner, and $18,500 from the Club. The project design specified that every house be outfitted with a water meter and that the people pay for their water consumption at subsidized prices. Also built into the project design was a provision that RC Makati form a service foundation to manage and operate the system, with RC Makati members, acting in their personal capacity, serving as trustees. This is by far RC Makati’s biggest and most heavily funded project. Moreover, it is sustainable and enduring as per its lofty vision committed to Rotary International.

From the first waterworks founded in Pampanga in 2000, Pres. Tito has completed

one more waterworks in Tarlac in 2009 and two in Ilocos Sur in 2016. All told, in a few years the net cash flow of all of these units will reach P5 Million per annum that again will be used to fund future waterworks in impoverished municipalities or barangays.

Pres. Tito’s term also marked the kickoff for the Partnership in Service Program (PSP), a grants scheme that was considered the Philippine version of The Rotary Foundation’s matching grants program. PSP extended financial assistance to Rotary Clubs throughout the Philippines with big ideas but limited means by providing them with outright grants of up to P50,000 to fund projects in the fields of education, health, nutrition, water, and skills training, among others. In its initial year, the Club earmarked P1 million for the Program and approved five applications with grants totaling P250,000.

In the Youth sector, the Club organized two Rotaract Clubs —

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pres. Tito & Brin Panlilio led a club delegation to the Rotary International Convention in Buenos Aires, Argentina, preceded by visits to Sydney,Australia and Auckland, New Zealand

The 17th Christmas Bazaar that netted P1.5 million for club projects.

Laying of pipes for the water project for three barangays in San Fernando, Pampanga. Funded by a 3-H grant of $189,000, it benefited some 1,000 households and birthed similar projects in Tarlac and Ilocos Sur, at no cost to the club or to TRF.

1999-2000President: Cristino “Tito” Panlilio

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water and land resources and preserve them for future generations. With Roland Young as founding president, the Foundation initiated an annual tree-planting program in Makati and a continuing awareness and advocacy campaign in schools and barangays on solid waste management, sanitation, and clean air.

During the year, the Club conducted workshops and demonstrations in rag-making, meat preservation, and massage for the womenfolk of Tejeros Tenement, and workshops on family violence for the entire family, using the Rotary Community Corps (previously known as Rotary Village Corps) as a platform for these community activities.

It provided homestay for a Rotary Exchange group from Kuala Lumpur and hosted a Group Study Exchange team from the United States. It also maintained relations with five sister clubs — RC Kota Kinabalu, RC Itako, RC Peninsula-HK, RC Kuala Lumpur Diraja and RC Hong Kong, and revived ties with RC Osaka Shirokita-Japan.

Meetings were made alive with outstanding speakers, notably former President Fidel Ramos, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Wall Street’s Gloom-Boom-and-Doom analyst Marc Faber.

In June 2001, Roland Young’s efforts in all the avenues of service were crowned with the Most Outstanding Club President – Overall award at the district yearend awards.

The R.I. theme that year called on clubs to “Create Awareness, Take Action.” And that was precisely what Pres. Roland “Roland”

Young did.He raised awareness for a cause he was

passionate about by engaging in a multi-pronged program that cemented the Club’s initiation to the cause and secured its stature as an ardent advocate. More significantly, he acted on his designs and turned objectives into done deals.

Environment was the apple of his Rotary eye.To contribute to efforts to reverse the massive

denudation of the La Mesa Reservation in Quezon City, a major source of water for Metro Manila’s 12 million-strong population, he forged an agreement with the ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Kalikasan (Nature Watch) that called for the Club to plant some 47,800 trees on 76.5 hectares of the endangered watershed over a three-year period, with funds from a TRF matching grant of US$75,400 supported by contributions from RCs Itako, Kuala Lumpur Diraja, Hong Kong. Deachon, Peninsula Hong Kong, Kota Kinabalu and District 3620 Korea.

The reforestation scheme was complemented by an awareness and advocacy program among the youth made concrete by the creation of Angels Clubs in public elementary and high schools in Makati City. Angels, an acronym for Agents of the New Generation of Environment Lovers and

Saviors, became the platform for students to undertake projects and activities to protect, preserve and renew the environment. The project also involved tree planting activities in Makati and Taguig and in the campuses of 36 public schools in Makati, seminars and workshops on sanitation and solid waste management in schools, and the construction of nine drinking stations at the La Mesa Ecopark.

Pres. Roland’s vision inspired two long-range measures — one, the integration of environment issues and concerns into the annual programs of public schools in Makati; and two, the creation of the Makati Environment Foundation among the Makati City Government, Makati Commercial Estate Association, and civic groups like RC Makati, bound by the shared mission of promoting a healthier environment in Makati. Its aim: to advance the cause of the environment through programs, projects and activities that improve and safeguard the quality of air,

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A beaming Pres. Roland Young receives from DG Hugo Perez the trophy for the Most Outstanding Club President-Overall at the 2001 District Awards

Fellowship visit to RC Kota Kinabalu

Pres. Roland leads Rotaractors on trek to the La Mesa Watershed, site of a joint project with ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Kalikasan for the planting of 47,800 trees on 76.5 hectares with funds from a TRF matching grant of US$75,400

Ann Caling Young (rightmost) with Rotary Exchange team from RC Kuala Lumpur

2000-2001President: Roland “Roland” U. Young

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barangay workers and hosted a Christmas party for the wards under the care of the Makati Social Welfare Department; the Parol sa Makati lantern-making contest among barangays in Makati, which enjoyed another run; and the Last Angel Project, which delivered Christmas presents to children in the Tejeros Tenement and the wards of the Bahay Maria Orphanage in Bel-Air Village.

The year saw RC Makati front and center of district affairs on two occasions, as host of two major district events, both of which enjoyed excellent turnout — the District Assembly that gathered incoming club officers at the Intercon Hotel in May 2004 and the District Awards at the RCBC Plaza in June 2005, during which District Gov. Ernie Salas handed out awards in recognition of club achievements during the year.

The Club also contributed to the district’s membership growth goals by organizing a new club, RC Fort Bonifacio Global City, with Pres. Jonny as district governor’s special representative.

For the fifth time, the Club received the top honors at the district awards — Most Outstanding Club-Overall and Most Outstanding Club President-Overall. It was also recognized as the most outstanding club in all avenues of service and for the highest contribution to TRF, per capita and in absolute amount. The Club was also conferred the R. I. Significant Achievement Award for

Pres. Juan “Jonny” Carlos Jr. rang in his term with the revival of a project that had engaged the Club more than a decade and a half

earlier. He brought back to life the Anti TB Project, funding it with a matching grant from TRF, with contributions from three sister clubs — RC Itako, RC Peninsula-Hong Kong, and RC Kuala Lumpur Diraja. With its focus on patients suffering from juvenile tuberculosis, a disease whose gravity is masked by the euphemism, “primary complex,” the project had multiple launch pads — six farm schools, three communities, and the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Antipolo. The prevalence of TB among children in low-income groups has prompted the continuation of the project to this day. The significance of the project was underscored by two facts: one, the Club’s partnership with two major health institutions — the World Health Organization (WHO) headed by Dr. Jean Marc Olive (who subsequently became a member of the Club) and the Department of Health under Sec. Manuel Dayrit; and two, the adoption the following year of the project by District 3830 and subsequently by all ten districts in the country.

His concern for the health of children moved Pres. Jonny to spearhead a massive immunization drive against Hepatitis B that saw 1,700 public school children given the costly hepa-B shots for free. The campaign was made possible by a World Community Service grant supported by District 2700 in Japan, our District 3830, and our MRCFI.

The Club was able to lend funding assistance of P950,000 to 20 Rotary Clubs under the Partnership in Service Program.

It also initiated sister club relations with the Rotary Club of Singapore and brother club ties with three clubs — the Rotary Clubs of Central Pampanga and in Palawan, the Rotary Clubs of Puerto Princesa and Narra. The Club’s standing with TRF was reinforced with the enlistment of 37 new Paul Harris Fellows.

Continuity in service was evident in the reinforcement of activities in established projects — Bantay Bata, which held seminars on child abuse and child protection for

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Signing of MOA on Stop TB Now Program with the World Health Organization and the Department of Health. In photo, L-R: PP Tony Quila, WHO Chief Jean Marc Olive, Robert Kuan, Gov. Romy Cruz and Pres. Jonny

Pres. Jonny hands gift to child at Last Angel program

Turnover of bikes for soldiers’ use in their community rounds

2001-2002President: Juan “Jonny” J. Carlos, Jr.

Project Angels, the school-based youth environment advocacy organization birthed by PP Roland Young the year before.

Pres. Jonny was the first club president to receive the twin awards with RC Makati as a member of District 3830, one of the first to win a RI Presidential Citation, and the first sitting president to become a TRF major donor.

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Another water project was seen through during the year with the laying of pipes to bring clean water to the Adiwang Elementary School, adopted school of Brother Club RC Baguio North. The water project was funded by a donation by Pres. Robert, which also covered the repair of the school building. As beneficiaries of the Last Angel Project, the pupils of Adiwang, most of whom had never been to Baguio, were treated to a trip to the city where they picnicked at Burnham Park, enjoyed boat rides in the lagoon, and were toured around the city. They were also given gifts of toys. The Last Angel Christmas gift giving that year was expanded to include children in public schools in Brother Club locations in Northern Luzon. To complete the assistance package to Adiwang, the Club filled its library with hundreds of books from Books Across the Seas.

The Club also made time to express its appreciation of the Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF), primary source of the books that BATS had been giving away since 1988, by inviting its president, Luke Hingson, to travel from the BBF headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Manila. Mr. Hingson spent his stay in Manila observing BATS operations, interacting with Rotarians and BATS staff, and sampling Filipino cuisine and culture.

International Service took center stage during Pres. Robert “Robert” Kuan’s watch.

Through his personal efforts, the Club expanded its circle of fellowship on the national level with the addition of nine brother clubs — RC Intramuros in Manila, RC Metro San Fernando and RC Baguio North in Northern Luzon, RC Bay, RC Lucena South, and RC Gumaca in Southern Luzon, RC Brooke’s Point in Palawan, and RC Tagbilaran and RC Boracay in the Visayas.

He also established a connection to China by forging a pact with RC Shanghai. A significant move Pres. Robert took was the revival of long-lost ties with the Rotary Club of Taoyuan-Taiwan. Started in 1981-1982, 21 years earlier, the alliance somehow lost fire along the way, causing the two clubs to lose contact for many years. After the reunion, which took place at the zone institute held in Manila that year, relations between the two clubs have steadily grown closer, made stronger by an annual exchange of visits on important occasions and deep personal friendships among members. The Club also organized a new club — the Rotary Club of Makati-Poblacion, its 6th daughter club.

On Pres. Robert’s invitation, philanthropist Angelo King made a substantial contribution to The Rotary Foundation that boosted the Club’s total giving and swelled its Paul Harris Fellows roster by an unprecedented, and likely

unbreakable, 250. The $250,000 gift automatically qualified Angelo King for membership in the elite Arch Klumph Society of TRF major donors.

The PSP gained headway with its annual outlay surging to P2.63 million owing to an increase in its budget allocation and pumped up by a personal donation of P500,000 from the president and $3,000 from Sister Club RC Peninsula-Hong Kong. This allowed the Club to approve grants of up to P50,000 each to finance the projects of 54 clubs both within and outside District 3830.

The year saw the completion of the water system project in San Fernando, Pampanga that broke ground in 1999-2000 during the term of PP Tito Panlilio. Funded by a 3-H grant of $189,000 (the Club’s only 3H grant and its biggest TRF grant yet), the project brought piped potable water to some 1,000 households in the barangays of Panipuan, Molino and Balite. It was inaugurated in March 2003.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Turnover of BATS books with Brother’s Brother Foundation President Luke Hingson (4th from right) and Pres, Robert Kuan (5th from left) to Ususan Elementary School in Taguig

Pres. Robert dispenses polio vaccine to child in Bauang, La Union

Pres. Robert and Peter Manzano hand out books to school children in Bauang, La Union

2002-2003President: Robert “Robert” F. Kuan

That year, the Club once again brought home the choicest bacon from the district yearend awards: 14 trophies and plaques crowned by the prized twin awards of Most Outstanding Club-Overall and Most Outstanding Club President-Overall. Aside from awards for exemplary performance in the avenues of service, the Club was conferred two Gold Awards for achievement in TRF: Highest Contribution in Absolute Amount and Highest Contribution to the Polio Fund.

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district-wide TB eradication campaign funded by a donation from District 2700-Japan. In December it delivered Christmas presents to 1,200 children under the Last Angel gift-giving program, including 400 pupils at the Adiwang Elementary School in Baguio.

Sometime in March 2004, Pres. Rene resigned on account of his family’s relocation to Australia, and Vice-President Wellington “Willie” Soong took over the helm of the Club until the end of the Rotary year on 30th June.

Pres. Willie presided over the formalization of relations with the Rotary Club of Fukui Ajisai-Japan under the Club’s first-ever Twin Club agreement. The year ended with the turnover by the Club to ABS-CBN Foundation of a check for P1.44 million representing half of the cost of the Club’s participation in the La Mesa Reforestation Project.

The dynamic Programs Committee chaired by Ramon Gonzalez injected a fresh twist to the regular meeting by organizing

three off-site meetings and six joint meetings with other Clubs. The Club also used its resources for a brand-building campaign aimed at promoting the name and polishing the image of RC Makati.

In the lead-up to the centenary of Rotary International in 2004-2005, clubs the world over were enjoined to adopt a project, a substantial one, in celebration of the historic occasion. To RC Makati, nothing could be more of substance than an integrated development project incorporating as many community needs as can be lumped in one project — housing, education, health and nutrition, youth development, skills training, community organizing, and values formation.

For its centennial project, the Club adopted a Gawad Kalinga community — the Scarha-Kaingin neighborhood in Sto. Niño, Parañaque City, just outside the perimeter fence of NAIA. On this first year, Rotarians led by Pres. Rene “Rene” Benitez paid frequent visits to the site to meet with the people, to find out their most pressing needs, and discuss how the Club can help meet them. In keeping with the primary GK

mission, the Club built five houses and a multipurpose community center where the community held meetings and socials. The Center also became the venue for two medical missions and a six-month feeding program for 30 pre-school children. The feeding program was one of a few visited by RI Pres. Jonathan Majiyagbe during his Philippine trip in January 2004.

The Club’s vocational training arm, the Heather Kinross Center, was reinforced with the opening of the Handyman Skills Training Program which offered short courses on such trades as plumbing and repair of home appliances and gadgets; graduated 72 public school teachers from seven schools in Makati under the Teacher Training Program with the Ateneo; and distributed 206,000 books to 815 schools and libraries under the Books Across the Seas Project.

In acknowledgment of its track record in TB eradication, RC Makati was named lead club in the

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Inking of an agreement for a joint environment project between the Club, represented by Pres. Willie Soong (2nd from left), and ABS-CBN Bantay Kalikasan, represented by Gina Lopez. Others in the picture, L-R: IPP Robert Kuan (leftmost) and PP Roland Young (rightmost)

Planting of ornamental plants in Gawad Kalinga, L-R: PP Joe Alejandro, PRID Paing Hechanova, Freddie Borromeo, and PP Tony Quila

Visit by R.I. President Jonathan Majiyagbe (in white shirt, left) to a feeding center run by the Club in Gawad Kalinga village in Scarha, Paranaque. Also in the picture: Ann Angela Quila, Pres. Rene Benitez and PRID Paing Hechanova

2003-2004President: Rene “Rene” B. BenitezWellington “Willie” Soong

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In late November, moved by the plight of families affected by massive flooding in Quezon province, the Club joined hands with the Ateneo Grade School to personally deliver badly needed goods to people in Infanta, who were forced by Typhoon Winnie to flee their homes for the relative safety of government buildings used as temporary shelters. It also sent monetary assistance to disaster-hit communities in Pangasinan, through RC Dagupan, and in Palawan, through RC Puerto Princesa, brother clubs both.

The Club’s efforts at service were rewarded with a shower of 24 awards at the district yearend awards, including the Most Outstanding Performance in International Service-Overall, Centennial Service Award-Gold, and Centennial Medal of Honor, topped by the award for Most Outstanding Club-Overall.

Pres. Freddie became a level 1 major donor to The Rotary Foundation during his term in RY 2004-2005 and moved to level 2 in RY 2014-2015 He was twice named Rotarian of the Year by the Club, while his Ann Jojo was once named Rotary Ann of the Year. In 2015, he received the Service Above Self Award, the highest award conferred by Rotary International on an individual Rotarian for his body of work in Rotary, notably in the field of nutrition for young children.

The year marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of Rotary International and the Club’s 40th. For RC Makati, it was

special in that the district governor was from its ranks — J. Antonio “Tony” Quila.

To commemorate the occasion, the Club published a coffee table book titled “Our Children, Our Future.” Conceptualized by Pres. Federico “Freddie” Borromeo and PRID Paing Hechanova, with JJ Calero as project chair, it was edited by Palanca Hall of Famer Krip Yuson.

Two projects placed the Club on a more solid footing than before in the areas of education and health.

In acknowledgment of its track record in TB treatment for communities, it was designated lead club in a country-wide project dubbed “Stop TB 2005.” Falling under the umbrella of the Rotary Declaration Against TB that bound the district governors of the Philippines’ ten Rotary districts, “Stop TB Now” charged all Rotary Clubs in the country to undertake programs and activities for the prevention and/or treatment of the disease in their service areas.

The Club renewed its relations with the U.S. Embassy with a partnership agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that called for the delivery of 60 container loads of books to schools in the

Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Undertaken by the Books Across the Seas (BATS) Project, the book delivery ran for three years and cost $400,000. It will be recalled that BATS was bequeathed to the Club by the USIS and AmCham in 1988. The assignment not only offered the project a financial boost but gave the Club occasion to prove its operational expertise. It is worthy of note that in this ARMM assignment, it was USAID that sought RC Makati assistance.

Education in public schools received a push with the training of a fresh batch of 142 teachers in teaching English, Math and Science at the Ateneo under the Teacher Training Program. The Club also manifested the much vaunted Filipino hospitality by hosting a visiting Rotary Exchange team from Kota Kinabalu and boosted its The Rotary Foundation numbers by enlisting 26 new Paul Harris Fellows.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pres. Freddie initiated a new round of supplemental feeding modules for undernourished children in schools and communities. The program, done in partnership with Kabisig ng Kalahi, LGUs and parishes, has logged a 95% success rate and continues to the present.

The Club intensified its anti-TB campaign with more tuberculin testing activities for children

Groundbreaking and laying of a time capsule for a new Gawad Kalinga project site in Villa Paraiso, Sun Valley, Paranaque.

Gift-giving under the Last Angel Project for beneficiaries of the feeding program

2004-2005President: Federico “Freddie” S. Borromeo

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This year, the Club launched the coffee table book, Our Children, Our Future, attained ISO certification for office operations, set up a club website, and shifted from offset to digital process in the printing of the club bulletin, Kaunlaran.

The Club’s fortieth-year run affirmed Pres. Sonny’s philosophical measure of Rotary as an instrument in doing God’s work on earth.

It was a lively run for the Club on the International Service road starting with the forging of matched clubs relations with

two foreign clubs — RC Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and RC Sydney in Australia, and with three local ones — RC San Pablo South in Laguna and RC Binmaley Century and RC Lingayen in Pangasinan.

The sister clubs highway also got busy with two-way traffic for Club visits to/from RC Kuala Lumpur Diraja, RC Bukit Bintang, and RC Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia and RC Itako in Japan.

The promise of paradise inched closer to fulfillment for the Gawad Kalinga community in Villa Paraiso with the delivery of a package of services. The Club built a three-storey multipurpose center that became the venue for community meetings, socials and medical missions and housed a reading corner for children and a health clinic manned by a part-time nurse employed by the Club. On two occasions the Club brought doctors to the place for medical missions that offered consultations, checkups, and medicine, all for free. And the children had smiles on their faces at Christmastime when the Rotary Anns came

to bring them presents under the Last Angel Project. And because GK is primarily a housing project, more housing units were built to replace the hovels in which the people once lived.

A critical issue that plagued Villa Paraiso was the lack of water. To address this concern, the Club applied for a TRF grant of $20,000 for a water system that would bring in Maynilad service and water straight to the people’s taps.

By happy coincidence, the Club was assigned the lead role in the planning and staging of the first Summit on Water Concerns that assembled various stakeholders for a discussion of water issues in Metro Manila.

In November the Club once again took center stage as host of the Testimonial TRF Dinner at the Manila Peninsula Hotel. This annual recognition program gives due honor to the contributors to The Rotary Foundation in the past year.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Pres. Sonny Tambunting with RCM staffers to whom the Club conferred certificates of recognition for their loyal and dedicated service.

Photo op at a special joint meeting with RC Pasay, RC Makati’s “mother” club

Exchange of gifts at installation banquet of RC Kota Kinabalu attended by Pres. Sonny Tambunting (left)

2005-2006President: Jesus “Sonny” F. Tambunting

The Club’s fortieth-year run affirmed Pres. Sonny’s philosophical measure of Rotary as an instrument in doing God’s work on earth.

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2,040 children served in the Last Angel Gift-Giving Project.

Sister Club relations were established with the Rotary Club of Tarlac and Rotary Club of Calamba, while relations were renewed with seven Sister Clubs and 19 Brother Clubs. Two GSE Teams were hosted, from D-3740 Korea and D-5320 USA. Under BATS, 437,660 books were distributed to 1,724 schools, bringing to 11,336,500 the number of books distributed since 1988.

A total of P355,000 in financial assistance was granted to six institutions and two Rotary Clubs under Special Projects, while 11 free in-hospital surgical missions with 197 beneficiaries were conducted in partnership with the Philippine General Hospital. Phase 2 of the La Mesa Project involving the construction of nine drinking water stations and overhead water tank was completed at the La Mesa Eco Park at a cost of P1.2 million, as covered by a memorandum of agreement with ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Kalikasan.

The new MRCFI Building on Camia Street, Guadalupe Viejo that houses the RC Makati Clubhouse was inaugurated in September 2007 when Conrad was chairman of the Foundation.

Under President Conrad Marty, RCM gained the distinctions of being Most Outstanding Club in Club Service,

Community Service, Vocational Service, International Service, Youth Service and Overall.

It also claimed Outstanding Special Project honors for Literacy and its Anti-TB Project, recognition for the Most Number of Registered Delegates to the Salt Lake City RI Convention, the Award for Highest Contribution in absolute amount to the Annual Program Fund of The Rotary Club Foundation, a Zone Literacy Award Certificate and a Presidential Citation Certificate.

For Gawad Kalinga-Villa Paraiso, it built and turned over 38 new houses to as many families, completed a water system serving 72 households, conducted four Medical-Dental Missions, initiated the Bahay Karunungan reading program in partnership with Bagong Kulturang Pinoy and Lufthansa, conducted three modules of supplemental feeding and a de-worming session for young kids as well as tuberculin testing and free x-ray for residents, and delivered Christmas presents to 420 children under the Rotary Anns’ Last Angel Gift-Giving Project.

The Club also secured approval for two Matching Grants from TRF: $16,000 for the Water System Project at GK Villa Paraiso and $50,000 for a new round of TB Elimination Projects.

A total of P1,159,970 in financial assistance was given to 26 Rotary Clubs under the Partnership in Service Program (PSP), bringing to over P9,100,000 the total amount bestowed since the project’s inception in 1999.

Other commendable activities included running 11 Supplemental Feeding modules involving 330 children, holding Career Guidance sessions for the graduating high school class of two schools, training 108 public school teachers under the PP Ever Macatulad Teaching Training Program at the Ateneo de Manila University, enlisting 21 new Paul Harris Fellows, raising P590,000 in net revenues with the 19th Christmas Bazaar, and setting a new record of

Last Angel gift-giving, L-R: Ann Chit Marty, Pres. Conrad

Marty, Ann Jojo Borromeo, Ferdie Ordoveza and PP Freddie

Borromeo

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Post-awards ceremony for President’s Cup Golf Tournament hosted by Pres. Conrad and supported by corporate sponsors

Children cheer after receiving gifts from the Club’s Christmas Package Drive

Pres. Conrad, Fred Menzel and Mundy Gonzalez on a visit to the Club’s adopted Gawad Kalinga village, Villa Paraiso, in Sun Valley

Donation of bikes under the Bikes to School Project

2006-2007President: Conrado “Conrad” G. Marty

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RC Taoyuan, Installation Banquet and Charter Anniversary; and RC Kota Kinabalu, Installation Banquet.

Welcomed and hosted were visits by the following Sister Clubs: RC Kuala Lumpur Diraja, RC Kota Kinabalu and RC Bukit Bintang of Malaysia; RC Taoyuan of Taiwan; RC Itako and RC Fukui Ajisai of Japan; RC Singapore; and RC Sydney of Australia.

Contributions totaling US$30,000 were raised for The Rotary Foundation from 30 Paul Harris Fellows.

Financial assistance totaling P556,000 was given to 13 Rotary Clubs under the Partnership in Service Program (PSP), bringing to P9,656,000 the aggregate amount granted since the start of the project in 1999.

Net revenues totalling P849,138 were raised at the 20th Christmas Bazaar, while Christmas presents were delivered to 1,626 children in 16 sites for the Last Angel Project.

President Bengzon inaugurated the RCM-MRCFI Building, which houses the RC Makati clubhouse, on September 14, 2007.

He presided over a total of 48 meetings and 13 fellowship Mini Socials, as well as a visit by Luke Hingson, president of the US-based Brother’s Brother Foundation, RCM’s long-time project partner in the Books Across the Seas (BATS) book distribution project.

He also welcomed and organized a visit by IMF Managing Director Rodrigo del Rato to the Gawad Kalinga Village in Villa Paraiso on July 31, 2007. At the same village, 36 new houses were built and six health missions conducted that benefited 1,480 patients. Also started was the construction of a water system funded by a TRF matching grant of US$ 32,000.

Pres. Pepito revived the National Awards for Community Service (NACS) and conferred awards on three distinguished achievers in the field of Education in the country: Fr. James B. Reuter, S.J. and Fr. Pierre Tritz, S.J., both of the Ateneo de Manila University, and Josette Biyo, Ph.D., Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas. This was held on June 6, 2008, during the Yearend Awards Night at the Blue Leaf Pavilion, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Other accomplishments during his term included the following:

Daily meals and milk were provided for six months to 270 malnourished children under the Family Health & Nutrition Program.

Medication was provided for six months to 802 TB patients in 32 project sites.

Free surgical intervention was provided for 212 patients in 11 in-hospital surgical missions at the Philippine General Hospital.

Through 12 Rotary Clubs, 257 bicycles were donated to five schools and four communities.

The Concentrated Language Encounter Project was launched, while a Technical Skills Training Program in Basic Metal Welding was initiated for unemployed men in GK Villa Paraiso, in partnership with Tuloy sa Don Bosco Center.

Established was new Brother Club relations with the Rotary Club of Balintawak, District 3780 and the Rotary Club of San Pablo Central, District 3820.

Foreign trips were conducted to visit Sister Clubs: RC Bukit Bintang, Charter Anniversary;

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Awarding ceremony for the National Awards for Community Service, this year with focus on education. Awardees were: Dr. Josefina Biyo, Fr. James B. Reuter, S. J. and Fr. Pierre Tritz, S. J. (3rd from right). Others in photo, L-R: Toffy Concepcion, PP Conrad Marty, PP Roland Young, Pres. Pepito Bengzon, PP Joe Alejandro and Francis Macatulad.

On a visit to the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, a school supported by the Club

Pres. Pepito with kids at library of multipurpose building built by the club at GK Villa Paraiso

2007-2008President: Jose “Pepito” A.R. Bengzon

Financial assistance totaling P556,000 was given to 13 Rotary Clubs under the Partnership in Service Program (PSP), bringing to P9,656,000 the aggregate amount granted.

Pres. Pepito addressing parents and children at the launch of a

feeding module.

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Pres. Bengzon’s term was also marked by numerous awards and commendations, among these the following: 1. Received a total of ten District Awards, including

the “Five Star Mark of Excellence,” at the District 3830 Awards Night in Makati on May 31, 2008. The 5-Star Mark of Excellence was for achieving the hallmarks of a total quality Rotary Club.

2. Governor’s Award of Distinction: For exceptionally sharing its resources to enable other Rotary Clubs to serve their respective communities through its Partnership in Service Program (PSP), Books Across the Seas Project (BATS), and Bike for Life Project.

3. Governor’s Distinguished Service Award: In recognition of the Club’s significant service projects, namely: Anti-TB Program, Nutrition & Feeding Program, Surgical Missions, Medical-Dental-Eye Missions, and Gawad Kalinga.

4. Zone Literacy Award: For its commitment to share, lead and promote literacy.

5. Governor’s Award for Outstanding Interact Club for the Interact Club of the Gen. Pio Del Pilar National High School.

6. Governor’s Special Citations for: Significant achievement in generating TRF Contribution of US $30,000; Significant achievement in obtaining approval for two Matching Grants — for a second water system project at the Gawad Kalinga

Village in Villa Paraiso, and for a new round of Supplemental Feeding Modules; and setting up a functional website www.makatirotary.org that effectively serves as an electronic bulletin board for the club’s project and activities.

Also received were the RI President’s Citation for the Rotary Club of Makati and the RI President’s Citation for the Rotaract Club of Makati.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: President Luke Hingson of Brother’s Brother Foundation, source of BATS books, with Muslim students and their teachers in a school in Cotabato during a 2007 visit to the Philippines

Start of the Concentrated Language Encounter Program in Makati elementary schools aimed at improving the students’ communication skills

Pres. Pepito (right) and GK chair Fred Menzel oversee preparations for a medical mission in Villa Paraiso

Mavi Bengzon, daughter of Pres. Pepito, hands a Christmas present to a little girl at a Last Angel gift-giving activity

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Among the highlights during President Larry Boyer’s term was RC Makati being conferred the Governor’s Diamond

Excellence Award as Rotary Club of the Year during the District Awards Night at Manila Polo Club.

Matched Club ties were established with two sister Clubs: Rotary Club of Historic Filipino Town, CA, USA and Rotary Club of Metro Kuantan Diraja, Malaysia. The Rotary Club of Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig was also organized.

The Rotary Foundation approved three Matching Grants totaling US$101,550 for three projects: similar amounts of $40,150 for the TB Eradication Program and the Concentrated Language Encounter Project, and $21,250 for the Nutrition Program.

The Last Angel Gift-Giving Project brought Christmas presents to nearly 1,000 children in 25 sites, while the 21st Christmas Bazaar held at the Intercon Hotel generated a net revenue of P762,000.

PRID Paing Hechanova made a substantial contribution to The Rotary Foundation’s PolioPlus Program, elevating him to the elite Arch Klumph Society of TRF Major Donors of at least $250,000.

President Larry Boyer’s term also saw the completion of Phase 2 of the Water Supply Project in the Club’s Gawad Kalinga community in Villa Paraiso, Parañaque.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Ann Elenita Binay cuts ceremonial ribbon to open 2008 Christmas Bazaar assisted by, from left, Pres. Larry Boyer, Ann Tere Boyer and Makati Mayor Jojo Binay

Pres. Larry (at back) with teacher-participants in the core group training for the Concentrated Language Encounter

Francis Macatulad assists a dentist in a dental mission

Rotarians led by Pres. Larry and PP Roland Young at

opening of drinking water station constructed by the club

at La Mesa Eco-Park

2008-2009President: Larry “Larry” A. Boyer

Among the highlights of President Larry Boyer’s term was RC Makati being conferred the Governor’s Diamond Excellence Award as Rotary Club of the Year during the District Awards Night at Manila Polo Club.

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President Felix B. Amparo, formerly President and General Manager of GE Philippines, Inc. but now retired,

joined RC Makati in 2000, with PRID Paing Hechanova and Joe Alejandro as his sponsors.

To him, Rotary opened up a great opportunity to serve the community, meet new friends and be enriched by new experiences.

He found the Club “baby-Rotarian-friendly.” It had some very good ongoing projects and community service activities run by dedicated members, albeit occasionally these provided a “cover” for “not-so-active” members. Otherwise, everyone always seemed ready to share resources to fund relief and humanitarian efforts. The Club also maintained excellent relationships with brother and sister clubs.

President Felix served as Club Treasurer and later as Vice-President before assuming the presidency during Rotary Year 2009-2010. He recalls that RC Makati was the lead club in the district in responding to the immediate needs of Typhoon Ondoy victims. RCM offices became a central distribution center, where goods donated by the Club and other clubs and organizations were packed by Rotarians, Rotary Anns, Rotaractors and Interactors for distribution.

To strengthen Rotary, President Felix suggests that “we go back to basics in terms of strengthening membership, improving attendance at meetings, encouraging stronger membership participation in activities, and working on membership retention and Rotary information.”

Based on MRCFI rules, President Felix automatically became an ex-officio MRCFI director before becoming ex-officio Chairman of MRCFI during RY 2010-2011. He believes that unless there is good reason to maintain the Club and the Foundation separately, serious consideration should be given to combine their functions under just one organization.

FROM TOP: Pres. Felix leads in the distribution of goods for families displaced by habagat-caused floods

Rotarians load a truck with relief goods meant for victims of floods spawned by the habagat or southwest monsoon

A career guidance session for the graduating class of a high school in Mabalacat, Pampanga

Inauguration of water system in Tarlac, a “child” of the 3H grant-funded water project in San Fernando, Pampanga

2009-2010President: Felix “Felix” B. Amparo

He found the Club “baby-Rotarian-friendly.” It had some very good ongoing projects and community service activities run by dedicated members. Everyone always seemed ready to share resources to fund relief and humanitarian efforts.

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Jun Rojas — that’s with a “j,” he would remind, lest his surname be misspelled with the expected “x” — should be

remembered with a deep sense of gratitude by over 1,000 small entrepreneurs in Pasay City. The reason: it was during his term as Club president that these small business people benefited from a microcredit program that allowed them to avail themselves of small loans for small businesses such as sari-sari stores, operation of two-unit internet cafés, and sale of phone cards and “loads” for mobile phones. This was in partnership with the Tulay sa Pag-unlad, Inc. (TSPI), a non-government organization committed to uplifting the socio-economic status of families through small and micro-enterprise development.

The Club’s concern for the well-being of communities and for helping meet their needs prompted the construction of a water project in a new community in Sitio Gabihan, Tanay, Rizal. The sitio was the relocation site for some 200 families displaced by Typhoon Ondoy, which inundated Metro Manila and surrounding areas in 2009.

In advancement of its educational agenda, the Club completed Phase 2 of the Concentrated Language Encounter under which 14,690 first- and second-grade pupils in 27 public schools in Makati were given lessons meant to develop or sharpen

their skills in listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

The Club also helped the Stepping Stone Learning Center by raising P1.6 million for a scholarship fund to enable needy students to stay in school, then applied for a matching grant of $50,000 from The Rotary Foundation for further assistance.

Support was also provided financially challenged families by way of half-scholarships for eight students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, a school for hearing-impaired children. And over 750 schools all over the country became the recipients of nearly 450,000 books from the Books Across the Seas Project, then on its 22nd-year run.

Some 700 pupils with poor eyesight in four public elementary schools in Parañaque received free eyeglasses under the Vision for Education Project initiated by Francis Macatulad the previous year. The eyeglasses were donated by optical shops as sponsors.

The area of health also received

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Photo op on the Club’s 45th Charter Anniversary Ball

Pres. Jun Rojas smiles with approval as Ann Pina hands a Christmas present to a child during a run of the Last Angel project

Career guidance talk to seniors of the Club’s adopted school, Heneral Pio de Pilar National High School in Makati

Pres. Jun Rojas (4th from right) presides over turnover of medicine for children with primary complex under the “Stop TB Now” campaign

2010-2011President: Filadelfo “Jun” S. Rojas Jr. †

attention through six surgical missions at the PGH with 80 patients operated on for various ailments under the Medical Missions Project, 234 children with primary complex in 13 communities treated under the Anti-TB Project, and 11 eleven modules of the feeding program providing daily meals to 330 undernourished children in ten communities.

International Service was served with the renewal of matched club agreements with eight sister clubs and 13 brother clubs, and the Club’s standing in terms of giving to the TRF program fund was boosted with a $100,000 gift by then district governor nominee-designate Robert Kuan, raising him to the Trustees Circle of the Arch Klumph Society.

The Club fattened its coffers by P1.55 million in net revenue from the 22nd Christmas Bazaar chaired by Ann Pina Rojas, who also led the Rotary Anns in delivering Christmas presents to over 1,000 children under the Last Angel gift-giving project. The newsletter, Kaunlaran, was reformatted to tabloid size, partly funded by revenue from adverts and sponsorships. And four names were added to the membership roster.

Pres. Jun succeeded in reorganizing MRCFI, the Club’s funding partner, to draw a clearer picture of and strengthen the lines of synergy between the Club and the Foundation. He also secured donee institution accreditation for the Club from the Philippine Council for NGO Certification.

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Renato M. Limjoco or “Rene” is a Banking-Multilateral Assistance- International Consultant who was sponsored by PDG

J. Antonio M. Quila and joined in RY 2002. He recalls that his expectations of Service and

Fellowship were met — in so many ways through donations and contributions, involvement in club projects and programs, and social activities.

For Rene, the Club provides a sense of belonging. Standing tall among its peers, it is united in the face of adversity, and most willing to help as and when needed.

Before he became Club President, he chaired Vocational Service B that included Stepping Stone, Teaching the Deaf to Speak, Heather-Kinross, and Microfinance. He also chaired Club Administration that included Programs, Club Bulletin, Attendance and Fellowships. He served as Vice-President for RY 2010-2011 before he became President for RY2011-2012.

During his term as club president, Rene Limjoco initiated a review of accounting policies and procedures to further improve reporting policies and undertook post-project evaluation for guidance of future leaders on project screening and selection. He also modified the Club Bulletin.

In preparation for the alarming consequences of global warming and climate change, the Club conducted two disaster preparedness seminar-workshops in Pasay and Makati and designed a disaster preparedness template that can be used as a model, and indeed was adopted, by other communities. Prepared by PP Pepito Bengzon, the plan was conferred a Significant Achievement Award by District 3830 at yearend.

With some P600,000 raised for disaster relief operations, Pres. Rene organized assistance activities for communities badly affected by typhoons and floods. Notable among these was a trip through flooded roads north of the metropolis to personally deliver relief goods, cash, and sleeping mats to some 800 families in Hagonoy in Bulacan, Macabebe in Pampanga, and La Paz in Tarlac in the aftermath of Typhoon Pedring that inundated Central Luzon in September 2011.


Photo op with beneficiaries of the Vision for Education project in a public school in Parañaque

Induction of the RY 2011-2012 officers and directors led by Pres. Rene Limjoco

Pres. Rene, with PDG Tony Quila to his right, hands a bag of goods to a flood victim in Bulacan

2011-2012President: Renato “Rene” M. Limjoco

For Rene, the Club provides a sense of belonging. Standing tall among its peers, it is united in the face of adversity, and most willing to help as and when needed.

The Club secured two matching grants from The Rotary Foundation totaling US$120,931: $20,931 to fund 15 supplemental feeding modules for 450 malnourished children, and $100,000 for a special course in Baking and Laundry for adult students of Stepping Stone. It also raised $93,000 in new TRF contributions, including $50,000 for the Annual Program Fund.

Health took centerstage with 13 in-hospital missions that saw 388 patients undergoing surgery for various ailments at the Philippine General Hospital under the Medical Missions Project. The Supplemental Feeding Committee provided daily meals and milk to 360 pre-school children in four sites and gave away bikes and books to six communities and computers to two schools. It also applied for and received a matching grant of $20,931 for 15 supplemental feeding modules, while the Anti-TB team conducted medical treatment modules for 60 children with primary complex in Quezon City and Bacolod City.

In the area of Education, the Club awarded half-scholarships worth P288,000 to six students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, while one student received a full scholarship from the Rotary Club of Toronto. It also received a matching grant of $100,000 to fund a baking and laundry training facility for the Stepping

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Stone Learning Center, which took measures towards making the school a center of excellence in special education by fielding a Peace Corps Response Volunteer with extensive experience for a six-month tour of duty in the school. Would-be waiters and welders also underwent vocational training under the umbrella of the Heather Kinross Center.

To help high school seniors arrive at informed decisions on a post-graduation career path, the Club conducted career guidance seminars for the graduating classes of three schools: Mary Immaculate Parish Special School in Las Piñas, Don Teodoro Santos Institute in Mabalacat, Pampanga and its adopted school, Hen. Pio Del Pilar National High School in Makati.

The Bantay Bata Committee, in partnership with the Makati Social Welfare Department (MSWD), conducted 10 seminars, workshops and other activities for barangay workers, parents and child leaders on various aspects of child protection and care, including laws on children’s rights, and a weekend outing for the wards under the care of MSWD.

Under the Vision for Education Project, students in three public schools in Parañaque were given eye tests by optometrists to check their visual acuity. Some 820 of them were given free prescription glasses that led to improved academic performance.

The Club also distributed 330,000 books to some 830 schools, on requests from various organizations, including 86 Rotary Clubs, and signed a memorandum of agreement with District 3830 and District 3780 to make available 100,000 books to their member clubs.

A net revenue of P1 million from the Christmas Bazaar — raised from sponsorships, ticket sales, the White Elephants table, and donations from the vendors — shored up the Club’s finances and enabled the Anns to carry on with the Last Angel Gift-Giving

Project, delivering presents to over 400 children in select communities, institutions and schools.

Assuming the MRCFI chairmanship in RY 2012-2013, Rene reviewed and strengthened the investment portfolio by redefining investment policies and targets, with the end in view of ensuring higher yields for the good of both the Foundation and the Club, whose humanitarian programs it is committed to support.

He expressed a preference for projects that not only have the greatest impact on the lives of beneficiaries but also have a high sustainability quotient.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Turnover of bikes to students under Bikes to School project

Charter members and past presidents with Pres. Rene at the Club’s 46th charter anniversary

Children drown in a sea of Christmas presents during a run of the Last Angel Project

Pres. Rene assists children in a supplemental feeding activity

The Club also distributed 330,000 books to some 830 schools, on requests from various organizations

Pres. Rene fits new eyeglasses on a student, one of thousands

of recipients of the Vision for Education project under which

students with poor eyesight receive free eyeglasses

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2012-2013President: Reuben “Ruben” M. Valerio

Ruben Valerio is an old-timer in the Club, having joined in 1974, a good 42 years ago. He has many fond memories

of those good old days, especially of basketball games played against other clubs, the fun they had at practice, and the competitive spirit that pushed them to win. They had every right to feel confident. After all, they had an ace no other team had: a certified Olympian in the person of Paing Hechanova.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he lay low from Rotary to devote full time to growing his business and setting it on solid footing. In 2011, though, he was tapped to lead the Club as president, a job that had not figured in his life plans. He knew the kind of commitment it would require of him, and he was not ready to take it on. He would have said No, period, except that the request came from someone he couldn’t say No to: his basketball buddy of the 1970s who had so grown in stature in the Rotary world that it was simply unthinkable to turn him down. So the No melted into a Yes.

In July 2012, Ruben Valerio took his oath as president of RC Makati on its 47th year. And Paing, by then a past director of Rotary International, was pleased.

The induction ball that year was grand as all such club events are, but it was different in that it had the distinctive touch of Ann Mimi Valerio

— a stunning show of the best of Philippine dances performed by the renowned Bayanihan Dance Company that wowed the foreigners among the guests and culminated in a fashion show of Philippine dress, from the kimono to the Maria Clara, by the ladies of the Club.

That fashion show, it turned out, was simply a foretaste of things to come. In September 2012, the Club staged another such show at the ballroom of the Mandarin Hotel. Billed as “One Big Family Cultural Show,” it featured a parade of the national dresses of various nations modeled by male and female Rotarians from many clubs and friends of Rotary from various organizations. The event, a fundraiser, was a huge success that added the tidy sum of P1M-plus in net income to the club coffers. To this was added a cool P1.25M generated by the 24th run of the Christmas Bazaar at the Intercon Hotel in November 2012.

OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:

At the 47th induction ball, RC Makati ladies in a fashion show

of the various forms of the Filipino dress

“One Big Family” — a fund-raising fashion show performed

by Rotary members and spouses, with friends of Rotary,

at the Mandarin Hotel

Ann Mimi Valerio (3rd from left) with Rotarians and other Anns

at Last Angel gift-giving activity

Pres. Reuben and Ann Mimi at the handover of bikes to

students

With funds secured, the Club carried on with projects in the different areas of service.

In Education, the year saw the completion of the Concentrated Language Encounter (CLE) under which pupils in 28 public schools in Makati took classes aimed at sharpening their communication skills. Long-running projects were carried on: career guidance talks for the graduating class of the Hen. Pio del Pilar National High School; half scholarships to six needy students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf; and over 200,000 books distributed to 475 schools under the then 24-year-old Books Across the Seas Project.

Health was another priority, with eight supplemental feeding modules conducted for 240 undernourished children in Manila, Pasig, Tanay and Calatagan, Batangas, while 54 patients suffering from gall stones, goiter and breast cancer benefited from free surgical missions at the Philippine General Hospital. Bikes to School, an adjunct of the Feeding Program, also gave bikes to students who often lacked money for transportation to and from school.

The Makati Social Welfare Department, the Club’s partner in the Bantay Bata Project, conducted seminars and lectures for parents, social workers, and volunteer barangay workers on such topics as children’s rights, responsible parenting and the care of children, and workshops on developing life skills.

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A spiritual recollection was held for children with behavioral problems rooted in family issues and/or emotional trauma from physical, mental or sexual abuse.

The Club also made a donation to Rotary Homes for two housing units in the resettlement site in Parañaque, new home to families that used to live along the banks of the Parañaque River, and pushed the environment protection goal by taking part in a tree-planting activity along C-5 Road.

The Youth program was advanced by the two RC Makati-sponsored youth organizations — Interact Club at Hen. Pio del Pilar National High School for whose seniors the Club conducted career guidance sessions and whose members participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), District Rotaract-Interact Assembly (DRIA) and the District Youth Olympics; and the Rotaract Club of Makati (RAC Makati) which participated in the RYLA, DRIA and the Pilipinas Rotaract Convention. RAC Makati was adjudged Most Outstanding Rotaract Club in the district awards program at yearend.

The Club reinforced its international service agenda with the forging of new sister club relations with two clubs, RC Greater Kuala Lumpur in District 3300-Malaysia and RC Il Bong in District 3620-Korea, and the renewal of ties with four, RC Kota Kinabalu-Malaysia, RC Fukui Ajisai-Japan, RC Bukit Bintang-Malaysia, and RC Sydney-Australia.

The Club also went on visits to three sister clubs — RC Hou Kuong in Macau, RC Taoyuan in Taiwan, and RC Tongkah in Phuket, Thailand.

The local side of international service was served with the renewal of brother club relations with RC Vigan, RC Dagupan, RC Baguio North, RC Bay, RC Midtown Tarlac, RC Balintawak, and RC Boracay.

The Club boosted its roster of Paul Harris Fellows with 18 pledges by as many members, and solidified its stock as a staunch TRF supporter by co-hosting the TRF Testimonial Dinner that recognizes the year’s contributors to The Rotary Foundation. Among those honored were PRID Paing & Mely Hechanova and PDG Robert & Yvonne Kuan, who are members of the Arch Klumph Society of major donors with cumulative gifts of at least $250,000.

When the southwest monsoon dumped rains on the Metro Manila and neighboring provinces in August 2012, the Club played the lead in mobilizing several Rotary Clubs for massive relief operations that brought much-needed aid — in the form of food, bottled water, medicine, clothes, and personal hygiene items — to some 2,500 families in seven communities. It also donated P500,000 to a brother club, RC Davao, to bolster a disaster relief campaign for thousands who had been rendered homeless and hungry by Super Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) in early December.

That year ended on a happy note for over 500 children in select communities and institutional homes to whom the Anns delivered Christmas presents under the Last Angel gift-giving program.

It also donated P500,000 to a brother club, RC Davao, to bolster a disaster relief campaign for thousands who had been rendered homeless and hungry by Super Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) in early December. Posing with feeding program

beneficiaries at Maria Agoncillo Elem. School in Binondo

OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP: Pres. Reuben and Ann Mimi

open the 24th Christmas Bazaar at the Intercon Hotel

IPP Rene Limjoco, standing in for Pres. Reuben, breaks ground for a club-funded unit at Rotary

Homes site in Parañaque; looking on are, from left, Jun

Jun Dayrit, Rotary Homes head PDG Sid Garcia, PN Reggie

Nolido and DGND Pepito Bengzon

Pres. Reuben (left) and PDG Sid Garcia (right) oversee

preparations for relief operations for flood victims at

the RCM clubhouse

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Carlo Rufino grew up with Rotary always being a part of his life. From an early age he was competing in the Rotary Mini-

olympics pushed on by Wash Lou and his “uncles” were PP Tito Panlilio and PP Gigi Zulueta. He was sponsored by his father Charlie Rufino and joined the club in 2008. They are the only father-and-son presidents in the club’s history.

He was also the youngest president to be elected. He remembers being daunted by the task when first asked by Gov. Robert Kuan to lead such a prestigious club with many members much older than him. The realization dawned on him however that if the Club wanted to recruit the next generation of members, then a young president would set the right example.

In hindsight it turned out well as President Carlo’s term became known as the “disaster season,” owing to an unfortunate series of national calamities and crises: the Bohol Earthquake, Typhoon Yolanda, and the Zamboanga siege, apart from the usual habagat and flooding in the city. His youth proved to be an advantage as he was able to handle the rigors of traveling to Bohol to deliver relief goods and later on to Guiuan to distribute boats in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda.

“During my term, we packed over 20,000 relief goods — the largest relief packing operation that the club had ever done, because of all the

disasters. The Rotary Anns were very helpful, especially First Ann Cat who handled much of the purchasing for the groceries,” President Carlo recalls.

“Even the Rotarian families turned out to help in the packing. It was a great bonding experience for everyone to pack and distribute the relief goods from children all the way to the parents and grandparents, in some cases late into the night and for several days straight.”

“We also tapped into our network. We were able to tie up with Air 21 through Melissa Romualdez, and my tenant in Times Plaza 2Go delivered the goods for free. The Army also picked up goods to deliver by C5 through army reservist Rtn. Shalimar Tamano.

“We had the whole logistics network, which was exactly what PP Rene Limjoco kept stressing during his term: disaster preparedness and relief. It became more and more important that we organize ahead to handle disasters that seem to be

FROM LEFT:

Rotarians having fun with the kids after a feeding session in Binondo, Manila

Last Angel gift-giving for kids in Guadalupe Viejo

Visit to Stepping Stone Vocational Training Center

Pres. Carlo distributes books during the Read Along Festival to celebrate 15 million books distributed under the BATS project

2013-2014President: Carlos Miguel “Carlo” D. Rufino

increasing in scale.“There were fundamental problems, like

getting all the bottled water. When disaster strikes, all the relief agencies begin to pack relief goods, so that supplies often run out in groceries and supermarkets.

“Then there’s the matter of redeploying the funds and getting the goods where they were needed. I think the biggest problem with Yolanda was getting the logistics to work out effectively. Our relief goods took a week to get there, while people were starving on the ground, but planes could only carry so much and the trucks were backed up for miles.

“So it really affected our logistics in getting our relief goods to those locations. But the result is the progressive learning picked up from each term.

“Gov. Pepito has been saying that we should now consider starting an initiative to preposition relief goods. You get to see how the worldwide agencies do it. They do it professionally, they prepare or relocate all the relief centers ahead of time, so that they are ready to deploy quickly. This eventually led to an MOA signed between PureGold and District 3830 to allow goods to be packed and sent ahead.

“We donated the first batch of 10 large pump boats with 12 HP engines to Guiuan, albeit it was only funded with direct donations from Sister clubs of RC Singapore which donated 5,000 Singapore

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dollars and RC KL Diraja with P444,724. We started the global grant for the Gift of Boats project during my term and PP Reggie Nolido was able to continue the gift of boats since then.

“You have to think long-term. How to prolong the assistance after the initial relief operation is done, so that basically, infrastructure has to come in, training, and rebuilding of lives. That’s a very long process. Donating boats will let the fishermen go back to their livelihood so they are not dependent on aid.”

President Carlo Rufino’s accomplishment report on service projects for RY 2013-2014 certainly manifested commendable leadership.

For Vocational Service Projects, Books Across the Seas led the list. A total of 130,531 books were distributed to 244 recipient schools and libraries. The 15M books achievement was celebrated with a Read Along Festival in coordination with Philippine Daily Inquirer. There was a special assignment of books for typhoon-affected areas that would bring nine container-loads of books to areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

For Livelihood, the Club signed a MOA with Bistro Academy and turned over a P360,000 scholarship grant for 20 trainees as part of the Food and Beverage Training program.

For Educational Service Projects, a new flagship project for President Carlo’s term was launched,

called Mentoring the Mentors Program. It focused on changing the public school teachers’ view to not only educating children but forming their values toward becoming nation builders. The Club launched four modules that benefitted 215 public school teachers in Parañaque, Muntinlupa and Pasay City.

The Club supported the Stepping Stone Learning Center with a P1M grant for a scholarship program for special children and effected a matching grant for the Laundry & Baking Training Program. It also donated P301,000 for the scholarship needs of six hearing-impaired students of the Philippine Institute for the Deaf.

Regarding the environment, the Club through PP Roland’s efforts was featured in a 30-second cinema infomercial on the three Environment R’s — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. President Carlo and family together with then Gov. Robert and family were featured.

Relief Operations involved

various areas in the South. In Bohol, President Carlo and First Ann Cat Rufino personally distributed relief goods for the earthquake victims. The Club distributed P96,338.80 worth of relief goods in Tagbilaran and turned over a P75,000 donation to RC Tubigon.

The Club also donated P50,000 to the District Relief fund for victims in Cebu. For Habagat victims, 7,303 relief goods were distributed, while P100,000 worth of blankets was donated to dislocated families in Zamboanga.

For Relief Operation: Yolanda, over 13,000 bags of relief goods all funded from members of the club alone which totalled P372,500 were distributed to survivors in Iloilo, Roxas, Tacloban and Cebu. Pres. Carlo & First Ann Cat personally visited Cebu to work with the clubs there for relief distribution.

Fundraising Activities included the following:The Club organized a Service through Fellowship

Charity Concert at the Hard Rock Café through Governor Pepito Bengzon who secured the performers for the cause of the rehabilitation of areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

The last Christmas Bazaar of the club netted an income of P995,000 to fund club functions and events.

Lastly, it was during this year that the Club sponsored three new clubs added to the district: RC Makati Gems, RC Makati Magilas and RC Makati Business District.

ABOVE: Rotarians packing goods for flood-affected

communities

OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP: Turnover of bicycles in

Calatagan, Batangas

Unveiling of the marker commemorating the dispensing

of the oral polio vaccine to a Filipino child by RI Pres. James

Bomar in 1979 that kicked off Rotary’s global PolioPlus

Program. The marker hangs at the entrance to the RC Makati

Clubhouse in Guadalupe Viejo, on the very site of the polio

immunization mission attended by Pres. Bomar.

Pres. Carlo & Cat Rufino pose with Bantay Bata kids

during a Children’s Assembly

Photo op with relief goods bound for Tacloban

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Reginald Alberto B. Nolido or “Reggie,” a lawyer and partner of Corporate Counsels Philippines Law Offices, was sponsored by

PP Jonny Carlos and joined in 2001. A brother of his is PP Abet Nolido of the Rotary Club of Makati Dasmariñas.

He expected to be introduced to a whole new network of like-minded persons dedicated to the idea of service. Honestly, he says, he too needed to expand his network for professional services. His expectations were met, as he has been actively participating in service programs of the Club even before his presidency. He has also had the privilege of providing legal services to several fellow members.

At first, he recalls, it was difficult for him as a young professional to be part of the Club because of the differences in ages. He felt intimidated and out of place. Even now, he says, he feels humbled by the fact that he is still building his practice while other members are all highly distinguished gentlemen in their respective industries.

With new boats and Leyte fishermen at extreme sides, L-R: DGE Pepito Bengzon, Dick Upton, Pres. Reggie Nolido and IPP Carlo Rufino

FROM TOP:

Rotarians interact with students during a visit to the Phil. Institute for the Deaf

La Filipina fashion show participants photo op

Pres. Reggie with Korean partners at a medical mission in Tagaytay

2014-2015President: Reginald Alberto “Reggie” B. Nolido

5. The Second Round of donations for the Gift of Boats Project in Guiuan, Eastern Samar;

6. Three Club-sponsored and two co-sponsored medical missions in Guadalupe Viejo, Parañaque, Tagaytay, Pampanga and Pateros, of which the last four were done in coordination with Rotary International District 3620;

7. The strengthening of the relationship with the Rotaract Club of Makati;

8. Founding of the Monthly Fellowship, “Friday Night Lights”;

9. Continued implementation of existing Club projects such as the Stop TB Now Campaign and the Nutrition Program and Rotary Homes; and

10. The Chartering of the Rotary Club of Century City.

He became MRCFI President on July 1, 2015, before which he was a Trustee of the Foundation for three years. His view of the MRCFI is that its responsibility is to protect the assets and funds and to provide support for the Club, which should still handle all projects. It should not veer away from this primary objective.

But in time he realized that the members were very accommodating and welcomed him with open arms, readily sharing their thoughts and ideas once they got to know him. In the end, they were all just people who wanted to make some difference in the communities we serve.

Before he became President for Rotary Year 2014-2015, Reggie Nolido headed the now defunct Partnership in Service Program, and served as Legal Counsel to the Board, Trustee of the Foundation and head of the Golf Committee.

As President, he initiated the following:1. The establishment of the

Happy Barangay Project with Guadalupe Viejo;

2. The establishment of a new Rotary Community Corps with Bukluran in Camia Street, Guadalupe Viejo;

3. A Backyard Piggery Bio-Gas Project in Roxas City;

4. A Global Grant Application for the Gift of Boats Project in Leyte;

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“The relationship between the RCM and the MRCFI is as it is supposed to be,” he avers. “MRCFI is just there to provide the financial support to RCM, while RCM is supposed to implement the projects and report its accomplishments accordingly to the MRCFI. That should not change.”

Pres. Reggie Nolido adds: “The Rotary Club of Makati is in a unique

position as it has the financial capability to undertake projects actively. Because of this, we have so many projects under our belt every single year. The year alone of my presidency, we listed down 32 different activities in the 34 weeks of my term, for an average of almost one project a week.

“But with great resources also come great responsibilities. The Club has a responsibility to actually and physically undertake sustainable and meaningful projects for the communities it serves. The Club cannot sit back and just be a check-giving club, meaning supporting projects by just giving money.

“The members must still be immersed in the community work that we support. There is a need for the members to continually feed our souls by actually meeting our brothers and sisters in need. There would be little meaning to our being Rotarians if we just stay within the comforts of our office and the Manila Peninsula.

“We should not delude ourselves into thinking that giving money is enough. We have to know why we do what we do. We have to meet the people we serve. We must get our hands dirty and actually do the job necessary to help uplift the lives of others. We have to lead from amongst and not just instruct from behind.

“My term can be defined as one which provided our members the opportunity to serve. We had several projects and trips where we actually engaged with the poor, the needy, the children and unrepresented. It is really up to the members to grab the opportunity. Many did, while others did not. I pray for the day when everyone would eagerly volunteer to be present at the sites of the projects. I know it will happen.”

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Pres. Reggie plays Santa in a gift-giving exercise in Calatagan, Batangas

Pres. Reggie addresses participants of Mentoring the Mentors project

Turnover of bicycles in Bay, Laguna

A light moment during the 2014 Induction Ball

Pres. Reggie in action at a feeding center

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There are a number of milestone years in the Club’s history but none bigger and more anticipated than the 50th

anniversary of its birth. By an uncanny turn, the man chosen to lead the Club on this “golden” year — Eddie Yap — has direct connections to its illustrious past: he had been president of RC Pasay, Makati’s mother club, in the mid80s; he was also a one-time member of RC Makati West, the first of the Club’s eight “daughter” clubs.

Pres. Eddie came to the presidency with a mind brimming with ideas and a heart eager to get things moving, done, and done well. He did so even as he

hewed to the cherished traditions of the Club, sought counsel from the elders and support from fellow members, and drew everyone to the table to partake of and contribute to the menu of projects and activities on the year’s agenda.

His term gets high marks in terms of compliance with the three-pronged RI Strategic Plan for 2013-2016, goals that clubs are tasked to hew closely to.

2015-2016President: Eduardo “Eddie” H. Yap

Strategy 1: Support and Strengthen the Club

Boosting Member Engagement and ParticipationSerious about getting every member of the Club to the contributors’ table, he devised a clustering scheme that covered everybody on the roster. The clusters were each assigned a month to take charge of the weekly programs, to drum up attendance and recruit new members, with the month’s comparative results published in the newsletter, Kaunlaran. Aside from encouraging member engagement and participation, the clustering scheme made it easy to check on individual and group performance, as the cluster heads made sure that their members showed up to be counted at every turn.

The cluster scheme bore fruit with the record attendance of members and Anns at the induction ball, reversing the usual turnout where guests outnumbered members and Anns, and in the induction of eleven new members, resulting in a net gain of six after the loss of five, including two deceased.

Reformatting the BudgetTo achieve balance without unnecessarily putting a strain on the members’ pocketbooks, Pres.

FROM TOP LEFT:

The ladies and gentlemen of RC Makati, led by Pres. Eddie and Ann Dellie (center) stand regal in the Ascot Gavotte number from “My Fair Lady” at the induction ball show, “Broadway, Our Broadway.”

PP Carlo Rufino, star of “Singing in the Rain”

’We Go Together’ reprise from ‘Grease’ the musical

’Lumiere’ from ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Pres. Eddie (center, left) and outgoing Pres. Reggie Nolido, flanked by their respective Anns Dellie and Sue Anne, at the gavel turnover ceremony during the induction

The 2015-2016 officers and directors, L-R, front row: PP Carlo Rufino, adviser; PP Felix Amparo, adviser; Louie Aseoche, director;

PN Jun Jun Dayrit, director; PRID Paing Hechanova, adviser; Pres. Eddie Yap; DG Pepito Bengzon;

PE David Ackerman, officer; Julian Lim, officer; Chris Ferareza,

officer; Shah Tamano, director; Eddie Galvez, director; back row: PP Roland Young, adviser; PDG

Robert Kuan, adviser; PDG Tony Quila, adviser; IPP Reggie Nolido,

director; Dick Upton, director; and Philip Soliven, director

Eddie reformatted the budget by matching revenue against expenditures in major categories of service — administration, unfunded programs, humanitarian, and self-funded projects for easier appreciation and fiscal planning, always with an eye on the bottom line.

Generating Funds for 50th Anniversary GalaThe grand anniversary fete at the new Shangri-La at the Fort on March 12, 2016 was a certified social coup, thanks to two events that generated the funds needed to pull it off — first, a dance concert billed as “Spirit of ’67, Spirit of 50” that packed an animated crowd at the Alphaland Tent in Makati and a staging of The Nutcracker ballet at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The two events, captained respectively by PP Tito Panlilio and the Valerios — PP Reuben, Ann Mimi and son Miko, and a cash donation by Pres. Eddie himslef — raised enough funds to

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cover the expenses for the March 12 gala dinner for some 500 members and guests and a Vienna Spring Concert performed by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the country’s top classical singers.

Aside from raising funds, both the dance-concert and the ballet packed a large crowd of Rotarians and Anns. The dance concert was front-acted by a band of RC Makati members, while the year’s crop of Baby Rotarians gamely served as ushers.

Another source of funds was a 120-page souvenir magazine for the 50th anniversary that raised a tidy sum as well. The positive response to President Eddie’s phoned-in requests to members for ad placements were solid proof of the strength of the Club and how ready and willing its members are to answer calls for support, especially from the president.

Setting TRF Record with 100 Paul Harris FellowsOne of the goals for the 50th year was to enlist 50 Paul Harris Fellows, one for every year of the Club’s existence. When PDG Tony Quila, chairman of the TRF Committee, began tapping members, the response was overwhelming, his efforts resulting in the enlistment of 100 PHFs, double the target set in July 2015, a feat that has shattered all records and is likely not to be matched, let alone surpassed, in the foreseeable future. Remarkably, the list included three babies, all under one year of age.

Topping TRF Giving in District 3830At the district conference at Sofitel Plaza in mid-April, RC Makati was recognized as No. 1 in total TRF giving, with contributions surpassing those of all other listed clubs combined. The Club also added three to its list of major gift donors and became an EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) Club,

while the total TRF giving was boosted by a $50,000 gift by PDG Robert Kuan.

Securing the Club’s Future with 5-Year Succession PlanThe Board of Directors has institutionalized a 5-year succession plan to choose and prepare future leaders for the job ahead. To this end, a special committee composed of the presidents of the immediate past five years has been formed to draft selection rules and procedures for approval by the Board. The move was taken to secure the future of the Club and ensure that it passes from year to year to capable and caring leaders who will lift it to new heights of service while keeping it grounded on the cherished traditions that give the Club character and safeguard its status as the premier club in the district.

Developing Youth LeadersThe Rotaract Club and Interact Club participated in district events, notably the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) and District Rotaract-Interact Assembly (DRIA), while the Interactors undertook a “wildings” preservation project on the slopes of a mountain in Batangas and represented the Club in the District Youth Olympics.

Connecting with Other ClubsConnections with other clubs were upheld through six joint meetings and a number of joint projects in health and education, while international links were kept strong with the renewal of matched club relations with five brother clubs and six sister clubs.

The Club traveled overseas to visit sister clubs in Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Taoyuan, Macau, and Tongkah in Thailand, hosted brother and sister club delegations at the welcome dinner in their honor prior to the induction ball in July, and entertained guests from Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney, and Taoyuan, who came for the Club’s induction in July 2015 and the 50th anniversary in March 2016.

Supportive Rotary AnnsThe Anns, ever playing a supporting role to their spouses, had their own program of activities — meriendas hosted by

FROM TOP RIGHT:

The Emperor’s Waltz, finale of 50th anniversary gala event on March 12, 2016 at Shangri-La at

the Fort

Andrew Prieto attends to patient at medical mission

in Malabon as Community Service Director Eddie Galvez

looks on

Merienda for the Anns hosted by Ann Dellie Yap at the Yap

residence

FROM TOP LEFT:

Exchange of club banners between Pres. Eddie Yap and Pres. Phakorn after renewal of sisterhood ties with RC Tongkah, Phuket, Thailand -D 3330 during a club visit to Phuket in December 2015.

RC Makati Rotarians and 168 Gift of Boats Project recipients after ceremonial turnover of boats in Ormoc City on March 16, 2016

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Ann Dellie Yap at the Yap residence, a spiritual recollection and visita iglesia in preparation for Holy Week, and most significantly, the Last Angel gift-giving project under which they delivered Christmas presents to 662 children in select charitable institutions, communities and schools.

Service Through Fellowship, Fellowship for ServiceKeenly appreciative of the value of fellowship and the fun and fulfillment human connections bring, the Club made it a point to intersperse the service program with socials — small-group dinners in intimate settings and get-togethers for bigger groups organized for an array of occasions and reasons — to mark a birthday, to welcome friends, to say thank you, to celebrate success.

All these demonstrate the healthy relationship the Club enjoys with its own members and Anns, its sister and brother clubs, and other Rotary clubs in the district and elsewhere, which reinforces the ties that hold the Club together and its links with other clubs, and adds to the strength it has shored up in all of its 50 years.

Strategy 2: Focus on and Increase Humanitarian ProjectsThroughout his term, Pres. Eddie and his team of officers, directors and advisers were in multi-

locations to oversee projects, meet with project partners, and connect with the beneficiaries.

Milestone Projects on 50th YearTwo milestone projects took center stage — one, a fresh run of the long-running National Awards for Community Service (NACS), which this year recognized the outstanding community projects of ten Rotary Clubs, one from each of the ten Rotary districts in the country; and two, a brand-new Air Quality Monitoring System made up of an initial three stations equipped with state-of-the-art machines that read and evaluate air quality data, in real time, 24/7, for transmission to the public through a website and apps for both Android and Apple devices. The 50thcharter anniversary gala dinner was the stage where trophies and cash prizes were handed out to the winners of NACS, and when Pres. Eddie Yap unveiled the Air Quality Monitoring System project in a video presentation.

Initiatives in HealthThe Medical Missions Committee offered free surgery at the Philippine General Hospital to over 50 patients suffering from breast cancer, goiter and gall stones.

Over 900 children afflicted with primary complex in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, Malabon, Navotas and five other sites were given the prescribed 6-month medical treatment under the “End TB Now” program.

Five modules of the supplemental feeding program nursed some 150 undernourished children back to health in Calatagan, Batangas, Bay Laguna and three other places.

A medical mission in Malabon City offered medical attention and free medicines to 260 elderly patients.

A $65,000 global grant has been disbursed for the 2014-2016 round of TB medical treatment modules for 900+ kids in 14 sites, from Navotas to Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.

A global grant of $94,560, applied for during IPP Reggie Nolido’s term in partnership with RC Shanghai, RC Beijing, RC Migeum of Korea, District 52 of China and District 3600 of Korea made possible the delivery on March 16, 2016 of fiberglass boats to 168 Leyte fishermen who had lost their livelihoods to the ferocious wave surges of Yolanda in 2013.

In April 2016, the Club received a new global

grant in the amount of $85,000 to be used to fund a new round of anti-TB treatment modules for over 700 young TB patients in places as far north as Pangasinan and as far south as Palawan.

Initiatives in EducationGiving Education the attention it deserves, the Books Across the Seas project, better known as BATS, stuffed school libraries with books as it has done for 28 years, keeping alive the links that connect it to the Brother’s Brother Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, primary source of the books it gives away. So far, 15,442,217 books and other reading materials have been distributed to some 65,000 schools since the project’s inception in 1988.

As in years past, the Club held career guidance talks for the seniors in its adopted school, the Heneral Pio del Pilar National High School in Makati, which is also home to the Club-sponsored Interact Club.

It also carried on with its assistance to the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, including

FROM TOP LEFT:

RCM Rotarians (front row) in a photo op at Career guidance seminar for Pio del Pilar High School seniors

Eleven-month-old Gianna Franchesca Tambunting, one of three babies in the record-setting 100-strong roster of Paul Harris Fellows enlisted on 50th year with, L-R: Grandpa PP Sonny Tambunting, Pres. Eddie Yap, and Dad Sonny Jr. & Mom Cherry.

FROM TOP RIGHT:

At AQMS monitoring station on Ayala Avenue, L-R: Dir. Eddie

Galvez, ABS-CBN reporter Tina Marasigan, and Pres. Eddie Yap

Surgeons at work in PGH under Medical Missions Project

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donations of P385,000 to the scholarship fund, two hybrid air conditioning units, and LED lightbulbs that cut the power bill by half.

The Club kept up its support of the Stepping Stone School for children with special needs with donations towards the TRF global grant that funded an arts-and-culture therapy program. The Club was there on special occasions such as the Christmas program and at the inauguration of a training facility for hotel room service.

Its desire to help up-step the quality of education in public schools led the Club to partner with the Ronald McDonald House Charities for a 16-month-long ‘Read to Learn’ program for Gr. 1 and 2 pupils in four schools in Bay, Laguna. The program was prompted by a study whose results revealed that four of 10 pupils finish the level without learning to read.

Initiatives in Bettering Communities and LivesThe Bantay Bata team worked with the Makati Social Welfare Department for seminars on capacity building and bullying, and organized a whole-day outing to Manila Ocean Park for special-needs children under the care of social workers.

The community development goal was advanced with a donation of P300,000 to Rotary Homes for two housing units, the construction of

two drinking water stations at the Virgen de los Remedios Elementary School in Bamban, Tarlac, and support for RCC Bukluran, the Club’s Rotary Community Corps in Guadalupe Viejo.

Strategy 3: Enhance Public Image and Awareness

Exclusive PR Arrangement with Philippine Daily InquirerThis year saw the Club’s stock rise to new heights with an exclusive arrangement with the Philippine Daily Inquirer for weekly press releases on significant projects and activities, brokered by Public Relations Dir. Shah Tamano and Andrew Prieto. The year-long publicity on the top national broadsheet brought RC Makati to national prominence and further raised awareness of Rotary as the world’s top humanitarian organization. It also served to aid in membership recruitment and

retention while enhancing the Club’s drawing power for guest speakers.

Exposure in Major DailiesThe 50th anniversary dinner and concert at the spanking new Shangri-La at the Fort on March 12 enjoyed pre-and post-event publicity. The event was given prominent space in major dailies with full-length feature stories accompanied by full-color photographs that boosted the Club’s stature as the premier Club in the district — the first among equals — and polishing the public image of Rotary to a radiant shine.

Exposure on ABS-CBN Morning ShowThe Air Quality Monitoring System project was also written about by top columnists in the major dailies prior to and after its formal launch, thus increasing public awareness both of the project and of the air quality in the metro, and of how they can use the system to their advantage. President Eddie Yap was also interviewed on ABS-CBN’s morning show, Umagang Kay Ganda, soon after the installation of the monitoring unit along Ayala Avenue.

District Billboard ProjectThe Club joined other clubs for District 3830’s public image campaign where we posted a large poster of our feeding project on a wall of MaCEA’s

FROM ABOVE, RIGHT:

At CCP main theatre, curtain call of The Nutcracker Suite, second 50th year fundraiser

Guadalupe Viejo children flash smiles after receiving Christmas presents from Santa Claus, a.k.a. IPP Reggie Nolido, in Last Angel

sortie in December 2015. Adults in photo, at back: Last Angel

chair Sue Ann Nolido, Dicky de Leon, DG Pepito Bengzon and

Ann Nellie Bengzon.

LEFT & ABOVE: Dancing audience and band have fun at “Spirit of ‘67, Spirit of 50,” dance-concert orchestrated by PP Tito Panlilio

Locsin Underpass that traverses Ayala Avenue on Legaspi Street.

Philippine Rotary MagazineThe Club was featured twice in the Philippine Rotary Magazine, the first time on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in March, the second in April — both with several pages of stories and photographs on the history, projects and leaders of the Club.

There has been much celebration in the RC Makati clubhouse in Guadalupe Viejo and at The Peninsula on Ayala Avenue where the Club holds its weekly meetings because there have been many reasons to celebrate.

Fifty glorious years of humanitarian service measured in dreams fulfilled, lives made better and decent communities carved out of slums, and joyful fellowship affirmed by strangers turned into acquaintances, acquaintances into friends, friends into family.

And the 50th year was crowned with impactful projects and celebrated in the Club’s own distinct fashion — a fusion of remembrance and recognition made joyful by the sweet notes of music that touch the heart and linger in the soul.

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Rafael “Paing” G. HechanovaRI Director, 1996-1998District Governor, 1979-1980

It was in RY 1979-1980 when Rafael “Paing” Hechanova crossed the leadership line from

past president of RC Makati to district governor of District 382. Efren Sales was president of RC Makati, who was guided by RI President James L. Bomar’s theme, Let Service Light the Way.

Service was indeed lit up when DG Paing convinced President Marcos and Imelda to sign an agreement with RI for the first Health, Hunger and Humanity project to immunize

Six members of the Club have carried on the spirit of service after their stints as Club President and have found fulfilment in serving beyond the club level.

Filipino children against polio. Pres. Bomar came to Manila that year, signed the MOU and participated in a polio immunization project in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, at the very spot where the RC Makati Clubhouse now stands. Pres. Bomar’s act — of dispensing the oral polio vaccine to a Filipino child — set off Rotary’s ambitious PolioPlus initiative to banish polio from the face of the earth. That landmark event is memorialized in a marker that now hangs at the entrance to the RCM Clubhouse.

As governor, DG Paing made his mark on the international front by serving on RI committees

Roberto “Bert” J. Montinola †District Governor, 1982-1983

Bert Montinola served as district governor in 1982-1983 when Hiroji Mukasa of Japan was RI

president and the Club president was Nick Katigbak. The theme was “Mankind is One, Build Bridges of Friendship Throughout the World.”

Bert’s term as district governor was highlighted by the visit to the country of RI President Hiroji, whom he accompanied on visits to select community project sites in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

One of the places DG Bert took Pres. Mukasa to was RC Makati’s clubhouse and the Club-run school for children with special needs in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati. That occasion has been made indelible by a commemorative marker that President Hiroji himself unveiled.

PDG Bert, a founding member of the Club, fell ill many years ago and was thus unable to serve his business and Rotary interests in any capacity. He passed on in December 2015, just three months before the Club’s 50th anniversary.

RI Director Paing

Hechanova (2nd from left, middle

row) with the rest of the 1996-

1998 RI board.

for Research, Extension and Membership Development, as two-time instructor and group training leader in the International Assembly, and as two-time assistant general coordinator of the PolioPlus Task Force. He was also a member of the Munich International Convention Committee, and in 1991-1992 chaired the committees on Asia Regional Functional Literacy and World Community Service.

As RI director, he served as coordinator for Youth Exchange at the Singapore International Convention and subsequently as general coordinator of the Task Force on Community Service, and later, on Poverty Alleviation. He served as adviser to the Provisional Clubs in Beijing and Shanghai for two years, was a member of the committee on Zone Restructuring, RI District Conference Review Committee and Youth Exchange at the Convention Review Committee, and chair of the Asia & South Pacific Literacy Resource Group.

As RID, he had a hand in choosing the RI president as a member of the nominating committees for president in 2005-2007 and 2009-2011. PRID Paing has traveled to various parts of the globe as RI President’s representative in district conferences.

PRID Paing and Ann Mely are members of the Arch Klumph Society of TRF major donors.

PDG Bert Montinola:

District Governor Bert

Montinola (4th from left) at

the awarding ceremony

for the Parol sa Makati at

the Glorietta Activity Center.

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As Centennial Governor, DG Tony motivated the clubs in District 3830 to step up their performance to a level that qualified all 75 of them for the RI Presidential Citation, the only district in the Philippines and in Zone 7 to score this achievement, one that has not been replicated.

PDG Tony served as chairman of the Philippine College of Governors in 2009-2010 and was founding chairman of the Philippine Rotary Foundation. He presently heads the management board of the Philippine Rotary Magazine (RY 2015-2016).

Many Rotarians remember the Rotary Club of Makati for its signature Partnership in Service Program, a facility funded with an annual outlay of at least P1 million that provided grants of up to P50,000. Specifically targeting small Rotary Clubs with big ideas but little means, PSP enabled hundreds of such clubs throughout the country to undertake humanitarian projects in their communities. Credit for that program, which was considered the local version of The Rotary Foundation, belonged to Gov. Tony.

He logged a major achievement for RC Makati as chairman of the Paul Harris Fellows Committee on the Club’s 50th anniversary by enlisting 100 Paul Harris Fellows, a feat that is without precedent and is likely never to be equaled, let alone surpassed. PDG Tony is a major TRF donor, level 1.

J. Antonio “Tony” M. QuilaDistrict Governor, 2004-2005

PDG Tony Quila was District 3830’s governor in 2004-2005 when Glenn E. Estess was RI

president and Freddie Borromeo was at the helm of RC Makati as it moved to heed the RI theme, “Celebrate Rotary.”

Indeed, there was much to celebrate on the 100th anniversary of Rotary’s birth. And much to do as well.

With RC Makati and District 3830 as spearhead, DG Tony organized a nationwide Stop TB Now initiative among all the ten Rotary districts in the country, with the World Health Organization, Department of Health, and Coalition Against TB, among others, as project partners.

Clubs were clustered and encouraged to team up for joint projects in education, not only to uplift disadvantaged sectors but also to raise awareness of Rotary and promote its public image.

Isidro “Sid” G. GarciaDistrict Governor, 2009-2010

Sid Garcia served as district governor in 2009-2010. Felix Amparo was RC Makati

president while John Kenny held the top Rotary International post. The RI theme was “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands.”

He promoted Vocational Service by organizing vocational forums to encourage the adoption of high ethical standards and plant visits to promote appreciation of the professions.

It was also during his term that the ACE (Award for Community Excellence) Awards, which recognizes outstanding Rotary Community Corps projects, was launched.

It was DG Sid who initiated the move to change the process of electing the district governor nominee (DGN), from election through a District Nominating Committee to voting by direct mail — a procedure that is deemed more participative because clubs are known to discuss their choice before mailing their votes to the office of the district governor. The new procedure is now enshrined in the district policy manual.

As it has turned out, Sid’s legacy began after his watch as governor. He took the district flagship project — to save the dying Parañaque river — and embraced it with such passion that it has become his mission. He established the D3830 Rotary Homes Foundation, Inc.,

partnering with the city government of Parañaque to ensure the project’s sustainability. He got the Parañaque government to donate land for the relocation project and knocked on every corporate and Rotary Club door for assistance. The help he sought soon came in and has not stopped.

Today, Rotary Homes is a community of 150 families, each with a home they can call their own. PDG Sid, a TRF major donor, level 1, is putting on the final touches to the first 20 of another 100 homes targeted for completion by end of RY 2016-2017. The 20 are due for a turnover in July 2016.

PDG Sid’s latest mark was his chairmanship of the Presidential Conference on WaSH at Marriott Hotel in March 2016, with RI President Ravi Ravindran and TRF Chair Ray Klinginsmith as guests of honor and keynote speakers. The two-day conference drew some 900 participants from all over Asia to discuss matters concerning water, sanitation and hygiene in schools.

PDG Sid Garcia (extreme right) at the WaSH Presidential Conference in March 2016, with (L-R) RI Director Guiller Tumangan, RI President Ravi Ravidran and TRF Chairman Ray Klinginsmith

PDG Tony Quila flanked by RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe

(left) and PRID Paing Hechanova

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Robert F. KuanDistrict Governor, 2013-2014

Robert Kuan served in 2013-2014 when Ron Burton was RI president and Carlo Rufino, son

of PP Charlie, was Club president — an uncanny coincidence, as it was PP Charlie who invited Robert to join the Club in 1985. His governorship was guided by the theme: “Engage Rotary, Change Lives.”

He made his mark as the champion of the concept of “One Rotary Philippines” — a united country of Rotarians — concretized in the 2013 Multi-District PETS (Presidents-Elect Training Seminar) in Cebu that brought together the presidents-elect of clubs in all ten Philippine Rotary districts. This same concept was fleshed out in the joint district conference of D-3830 and D-3850 in March 2014.

It was during Gov. Robert’s term that a new electoral practice was instituted. It allowed candidates for district governor nominee-designate (to serve as governor in RY 2016-2017) to present

themselves and their plans to the district in a forum. This was a major shift from the old practice that strongly discouraged, and effectively prohibited, candidates from openly campaigning for votes.

Clubs linked up for joint projects and activities to foster teamwork and cut costs, and Rotarians joined him on fellowship trips that often led to the forging of sister club ties.

The district also engaged in extension work with the organization of four new clubs.

Convinced of the merits of The Rotary Foundation’s mission “to do good in the world,” he has been tirelessly inviting persons of means to make substantial gifts to the Foundation, succeeding in getting three of them — philanthropist Angelo King, DGE Edna Sutter, and banker Frederick Dy — to each contribute $250,000, automatically qualifying them for membership in the Arch Klumph Society (AKS). As Assistant Endowment & Major Gift Adviser of Zone 7A, it was all in a day’s work for him.

His efforts have made RC Makati the only Club in the country credited with having four AKS members, including the Kuan couple. Per the Discon 2016 magazine, “No other Filipino has successfully recruited more donors in the Philippines to become AKS members than Robert Kuan.”

In 2015, PDG Robert served as RI President’s representative to the district conference of District 6890 in Tampa, Florida.

Jose “Pepito” A. R. BengzonDistrict Governor, 2015-2016

Pepito Bengzon was governor of District 3830 in RY 2015-2016, the 50th anniversary year of

his home club, RC Makati. Eddie Yap was Club president and RI was led by President K.R. “Ravi ” Ravindran bannering the theme, “Be a Gift to the World.”

It was a banner year for District 3830. On the international level, the district scored

a feat as host of the Presidential Conference on WaSH in Schools, one of only five such conferences in the world. With RI President Ravi Ravindran and TRF Chair Ray Klinginsmith as guests of honor, it drew some 900 participants from all over Asia.

On the zone level, it recorded a membership count of 3,173 as of end April, the highest among 37 districts in 17 countries in Zones 7 and 8, which include Australia, New Zealand. Indonesia, and the Philippines.

On the country level, the district logged contributions of $384,111 to the TRF Annual Program Fund and $136.02 per capita, the highest among the 10 Philippine districts. It also enlisted 48 new Paul Harris Society (PHS) members pledging to contribute at least US$1,000 annually, exceeding the 32 PHS last Rotary year. DG Pepito is a PHS member and major donor, level 1.

Heeding RI President Ravi’s call for Rotarians

to open a MyRotary account and do their reporting through the Rotary Club Central, clubs encouraged their members to sign up for the online tool, with over 70% of Rotarians in the district already enlisted as of end April.

Three firsts were achieved in Public Image: Areas of Focus (AoF) projects carried on 34 billboards at the Ayala-Legazpi Underpass; 210 UV Express vehicles plying routes from Parañaque to Antipolo bearing “End Polio Now” stickers; and 20 taxicabs lugging the same message on their toppers.

To resolve logistics issues and improve response time in disaster relief operations, D-3830 entered into an agreement with Puregold Supermarket, enlisting its services to pack and deliver relief goods directly to disaster areas so Rotarians can concentrate on distribution.

The district also scored firsts in AoF matters: a seminar on the Philippine Stock Exchange, a Livelihood Summit Conference, and a Mega Job and Business Fair.

PDG Robert Kuan (2nd from left) shakes hands with RI President Ron Burton at GETS 2013 in San

Diego, California. Also in the picture are spouses Yvonne Kuan

(left) and Jetta Burton.

Gov. Pepito at TRF Testimonial Dinner in November 2015

Gov. Pepito (right) and PDG Ed Alvarez cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the District 3830 Public Image Project at MaCEA underpass in Makati.

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RC Makati Rotarians still call their wives “Rotary Anns” — Rotary-speak for the wife of a male

Rotarian — long after Rotary International dropped the term in favor of the generic “spouse.”

The name change came in 1989 as a result of RI’s acceptance of women into its fold. But the generic term just did not seem to appeal to the members of a club steeped in tradition. So, for RC Makati, “Rotary Ann” it is still. Or just Ann.

In RC Makati, the Anns are the women behind the successful men of the Club — owners or top honchos of corporations and practitioners at the top of the game in law, banking and finance, medicine, architecture, public relations, and other professions.

It is safe to say that the Club would not be where it is today or what it has become had the Anns just sat in the sidelines, legs crossed and arms folded, kibitzing as the men went about their business.

Fortunately for the Rotarians and the Club, RC Makati Anns are an active, and proactive, set.

They started helping out in Club affairs early on. They would troop to the basketball games where their husbands played, and cheer them on, win or lose. And always, they would bring food to share in post-game fellowship meriendas.

They were not aware of it then, but they were starting a tradition that would last forever, a tradition of food for fellowship and fellowship

through food. If at the onset of a Rotarian’s membership in RC

Makati, the Ann would show up at a club event on the invitation, or at the insistence, of her husband, it would not be long before she built her own circle of Ann friends whose company she would seek on her own.

Because their husbands are into projects and activities for the Club, it is only natural for the wives to take part in them or create projects and activities of their own.

Their deepest footprints were from a project they are most associated with, a project that was theirs for all of its 25 years, from its birth in 1988 to its final run in 2013: the Christmas Bazaar.

The first bazaar took place at the main lounge of the Manila Polo Club in November 1988 when Gigi Zulueta was president. It was conceived by his Ann J’net who ran it and organized other Anns into committees to do the work. Envisioned as a one-time fundraiser, it raised nearly P60,000, a fortune at the time but loose change compared to revenues

raised in recent years. But it was considered successful enough for a repeat the following year, and the year after, and so on. The biggest windfall was P1.65 million.

Quite apart from the amounts it added to the Club’s coffers, perhaps the most concrete proof of the

bazaar’s astounding success throughout its 25-year run was the fact that concessionaires flocked to it without any invitation, making inquiries about applications as early as July. Unlike other bazaars that actively solicit vendor participation, concessionaires would come to the RC Makati bazaar without bidding, and come out of it satisfied at having turned in a good profit.

This was concrete proof of the Anns’ masterly management of the bazaar and the passion they poured into every aspect of the work. The bazaar’s final run in November 2013 was spearheaded by Ann Cat Rufino.

In 2010, Ann Mimi Valerio put together a fashion show that she dubbed “One Rotary Family.” Held at the ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the show featured ladies and gentlemen from a number of Rotary Clubs and other organizations who sportingly played ramp models to raise money for RC Makati.

Two years later, with the Christmas Bazaar shelved, Ann Sue Ann Nolido staged another fashion show — La Filipina — at the main lounge of the Manila Polo Club that shined the spotlight on the creations of designer Jun-Jun Cambas modeled by RC Makati Anns.

Both shows were warmly received and contributed hefty sums to the Club’s coffers.

In RY 1998-1999, Ann Brin Panlilio injected heart into the bazaar by introducing the Last Angel Gift-Giving Project. The idea was inspired by a touching article that she had read in the Reader’s Digest, about

an orphan girl for whom a kind lady had bought a Christmas gift — an angel doll — while doing last-minute shopping on Christmas eve. As it happened, then First Ann Angela Quila loved the story, and loved even more the idea of the Last Angel as a companion piece to the bazaar and its heartwarming purpose: to give children a reason to smile at Christmastime.

Last Angel was originally a scheme under which bazaar shoppers were invited to pick a tag or two from a tree bedecked with angel tags, each bearing the name, gender and age of a child from a needy family or institution, for whom the shopper would buy a gender- and age-appropriate gift. The Anns would wrap the gifts, tack on the angel tags to them, and personally deliver them to the children before Christmas.

Chaired by the Ann of the immediate past president, the Last Angel set the RC Makati Christmas Bazaar apart from all the other bazaars in Metro Manila, making it stand out as “the bazaar with a heart for children.” After the bazaar folded in 2013, Last Angel has stood on its own, carrying on with its mission to bring a merry Christmas to children, an exercise it has been doing for thousands of kids for 17 happy years.

The influence of the Anns in club affairs and their contribution to its success are beyond measure. There’s no denying that they are there, seen and felt in many wonderful ways and appreciated beyond words.

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The Club and its funding partner, the Makati Rotary Club Foundation Inc., have

always lived under one roof. Their first was the Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade Building at the Makati Commercial Center (now Ayala Center), on the spot where SM Makati now stands.

At the time, both organizations shared one secretariat, which held office at the third floor of the building. When the lease contract for the land expired, the building was torn down and the office moved to Guadalupe Viejo, in a building that stood on land leased to the Foundation by Ayala Corporation.

The building underwent major repairs in 1989, prompting another move for the offices, this time to the Ayala Life Building on Ayala Avenue. The Secretariat moved back to Guadalupe Viejo once the repairs were done.

In 2004, through the efforts of PP Fidel Alfonso, Long Ortigas and Nonoy Alindogan, Ayala Corporation converted to a downright donation the Foundation’s long-term lease on the 1,500 sqm Guadalupe Viejo property.

Seeing the effects of wear and tear on the ageing structure, a Building Committee headed by PP Fidel Alfonso and PP Tito Panlilio recommended that it be torn down to make way for a new one.

The structure was demolished in 2005 during which time the secretariat transferred to the Mile Long Building in Legaspi Village, Makati in a large room offered rent-free by PP Charlie Rufino.

Harnessing the Club’s pool of talent and the team spirit and generosity of its members, the Foundation pressed to service Ruben Payumo, eminent architect, to draw the blueprint and see it through to its concrete form; PP Charlie Rufino donated the glass windows and doors; and in the latter stage of construction, Ben Hughes came in to put his stamp as interior designer.

The P25 million that had been allocated for the construction of the building ballooned to P30M on account of the installation of an elevator, an amenity added in thoughtful consideration of the Club’s senior members.

The new MRCFI building, a.k.a. RC Makati Clubhouse, was inaugurated on September 14, 2007 during the terms of Conrad Marty as MRCFI chair and Pepito Bengzon as club president.

Located on Camia St. in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, right next to the barangay hall, it is the tallest structure on the block, distinctive for its three levels and high fence. The entire ground floor is occupied by a full-service Club secretariat. The second floor holds a lounge, the MRCFI secretariat office, MRCFI chairman’s

room, and a board room. On the third level is a multipurpose hall used for socials, seminars and, during natural disasters, as a command post for relief operations. It also has a function room that has been used as a district office by District Governors Sid Garcia, Robert Kuan and Pepito Bengzon. The property has a parking lot that can accommodate 25 cars at a time.

The MRCFI Building is the shared home of the Club and the Foundation, a structure that stands on the foundations of clear vision, strong connections, and teamwork.

The Makati Rotary Club Foundation Arcade at the Makati Commercial Center, circa 1975 (below) and the present MRCFI Building on Camia Street, Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, home of RC Makati and its Foundation

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Fellowship is the lifeblood of every Rotary Club. Every Rotarian joins a Rotary Club on

the invitation of a friend. Service gives meaning and fulfilment to membership in Rotary, but it is fellowship that gives it color.

It is a hallmark of the Rotary Club of Makati. The Club’s annual calendar of events is

dotted with fellowship activities, formal and casual, from July of one year to June of the next. It starts with the induction ball in July and ends with the yearend awards in June. In between is a long line of dinners, lunches, and afternoon teas, and activities on the shooting range, bowling lane and golf course.

Still the foremost fellowship platform for the Club are the Tuesday noon meetings at The Peninsula, occasions that require no rigid dress code and offer a decent meal, where members can sit at their favorite table, let their hair down, and be one’s self — among friends.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE:

Charter members and past presidents in customary toast on 41st charter anniversary in March 2007

Giving it their all in “Broadway, Our Broadway” show at 50th induction ball

RCM members old and new in a bond-reinforcing social

Charter members and past presidents in customary photo op on 43rd charter anniversary in March 2009.

FROM TOP: Letting hair down and

having fun with games, games, games . . .

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EDUCATION

The Club’s two most enduring projects have been in the area of education.

The Club‘s immersion in this field goes back to Year 1 of its existence, when it outfitted a 10-wheeler truck with stacked bookshelves and sent it to nearby provinces, as a mobile library that made stops in schools with hardly any books. The library-on-wheels was supported by a corporate sponsor, S.C. Johnson & Sons.

Education has since become a staple in the Club’s service agenda.

MRDC to Stepping Stone

In 1975-1976, the Club put up the Makati Research and Development Center (MRDC),

a multi-purpose facility that took in children with physical and mental inadequacies and taught them the basic skills they need to be self-reliant.

Subsequently, MRDC dropped its community engagements in health and nutrition, training and employment, eventually evolving into a school for children with mental and physical challenges. It was given a professional edge when the Center initiated a Teacher for the Handicapped Project that provided training in special education to its teachers.

In 1985-1986, the Club invited seven Rotary Clubs in Makati to join it to save the school from closure. The eight clubs pooled their resources to

form the Development Center for the Handicapped Foundation Inc. (DCHFI), to take over the school’s management and operations.

The following year, the organizational process for the DCHFI was fast-tracked, leading to the creation of the Stepping Stone Learning Center (SSLC).

In 2005, the Club tore down its old building to make room for a new one, prompting the school to move to Bernardino Street, also in Guadalupe Viejo. In 2010, the DCHFI board of trustees developed a five-year plan envisioned to transform the school into a Center of Excellence in Special Education.

In 2011-2012, the Club received a $100,000 grant from TRF for a vocational training course in baking and laundry for the elder students. In 2013 the foundation changed its name to Center for Excellence in Special Education (Stepping Stone) Foundation, Inc. In 2015 it received two global grants — one, for the renovation and fit-out for a hotel and training room for housekeeping and hotel accommodations; the other, for a Rotary Hall for the Performing Arts centered on Mulawin Dula, a culture-and-arts program that offers therapy through Musika (Music), Larawan (Visual Arts), Indak, (Dance) and Dula (Drama).

The school has since moved to a new campus in Sucat, Parañaque, on a one-hectare property acquired in 2014. The facility that transitioned from MRDC to Stepping Stone to Center of Excellence

in Special Education in a span of 38 years has been the Club’s longest-running undertaking and its most lasting contribution to the field of education.

Books Across the Seas

Books Across the Seas or BATS is the Club’s book distribution project that has run

for 27 years. As of April 2016, the project had distributed over 15 million books to some 65,000 schools throughout the country.

Originally a joint project of the United States Information Service (USIS) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), BATS was turned over to RC Makati in 1988. The Club still sources books and other educational materials from the Brother’s Brother Foundation, a humanitarian foundation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The project was initially funded with a seed fund of P100,000 from USIS and AmCham and a P1M donation from Allied Bank in 1995. Allied Bank has also since allowed the Club rent-free use of a warehouse in Novaliches, where books are stored, sorted out, and stamped prior to release.

The project was beefed up in 2004-2005 with a collaboration with USAID that brought 60 container loads of books over a three-year period to schools in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

Other Rotary Clubs serve as distribution channels. The Club also asks requesters who can afford it to make a small donation for every book they receive — P10 for hardbound books and P5 for smaller ones — to cover expenses for freight, customs duties, broker’s fees, warehouse maintenance, and staff salaries. This places the Club in a position to give books to requesting organizations that are unable to make donations, thus ensuring the sustainability of the project.

Philippine Institute for the Deaf

The Club’s assistance efforts for PID began in 1994 with annual donations to its

scholarship fund. PID teaches the deaf to communicate through

oral language, not through the conventional hand signs that keep them confined in silence. Although it entails much effort and time and requires the use of costly specialized tools, the oral method is considered superior since it gives the hearing-impaired a sense of normalcy, empowers them to “hear” and thus communicate with a hitherto undiscovered and unused sense (of speech), and opens new doors of opportunity for them.

Through the years the Club has provided assistance to PID in various forms, notably two audio-visual rooms outfitted with specialized audio equipment, two hybrid air-conditioning units that run on solar power and LED lights


The new Stepping Stone campus in Sucat, Parañaque City

At BATS warehouse in Novaliches: Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF) President Luke Hingson leafs through a book in the company of BATS staff.

RC Makati Rotarians on a visit to the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, one of the schools it supports.

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that have cut the school’s monthly electricity bill by 50%.

The Club also supports the annual culminating activity at yearend, where the children perform in a musical program that showcases lessons learned and skills acquired during the year.

Its last donation, of P350,000, was in July 2015 at the beginning of RC Makati’s golden anniversary year.

Up-Leveling Public Education

The Teacher Training Program, conceptualized in RY 1995-1996, had the

Club involved in improving the quality of instruction in the public school system by sharpening the teaching skills and upgrading the teaching methods of teachers.

The program kicked off in April 1996 with a six-week study program for selected teachers of three subject areas — Science, Math and English — in two pilot schools, the Pamantasan ng Makati Technical High School and Makati High School.

The project was adopted by other DECS districts in Metro Manila to include teachers in Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasig, Quezon City, San Juan, Malabon, Caloocan and Parañaque. In 2003-2004 the project was renamed “PP Ever Macatulad Teacher Training Program” in honor of its founder who had passed on.

The program, which led to the organization of the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED), was later expanded to include high school principals and administrators under the Principal Empowerment Program. Developed by ACED, the course sharpened the principals’ skills at managing scarce resources and upgraded their core competencies in administration, decision making, and general management.

Concentrated Language Encounter

The Club started the Concentrated Language Encounter (CLE) program in

April 2008. The CLE is a method of instruction that aims to develop and sharpen the communication skills — listening, speaking, reading, and writing — of students at the basic education stage.

By the time the project wrapped up at the close of school in 2013, although initally intended to cover only Gr. 1 and Gr. 2 pupils, it had involved 343 principals and teachers and

brought the benefits of the method to over 31,600 students from Gr. 1 to Gr. 4 in all 28 public elementary schools in Makati.

The Department of Education adopted it as a method of developing communication skills and has committed to institutionalizing it in the public educational system. Since it has been embedded as a teaching method in the basic curriculum of DepEd, CLE will thus continue to be implemented in all public schools throughout the country.

John Robert Powers

In 2009-2010, the Club partnered with John Robert Powers, a school that specializes in

personality development and the performing arts. The partnership involved the enrolment of select sophomores and juniors of Heneral Pio del Pilar National High School in the school’s English Proficiency Program. The course trained students to communicate effectively and with confidence. Scholars were trained in such macro communication skills as writing, speaking, reading, and conversation. Three batches of scholars were trained under the program, all of them members of the RC Makati-sponsored Interact Club.

Mentoring the Mentors Project

“Mentoring the Mentors” began in 2013-2014 as an educational program

that would provide training to public school teachers in effective methods of instruction, as well as in character development and values formation. The Club conducted four modules that benefited 215 teachers in Parañaque, Muntinlupa and Pasay City. It was carried on the following year with a three-day seminar in Muntinlupa for 53 teachers.

HEALTH

The Club has a long history of service in the area of health. Its adherence to the

philosophy of health as wealth has led to a procession of projects that promote wellness as well as prevent and cure disease.

RC Makati Clubhouse: Ground Zero for Rotary’s PolioPlusProgram

On September 29, 1979, RI President James Bomar took part in a polio immunization

activity in Guadalupe Viejo in Makati that was organized by the Club. On that occasion, Pres. Bomar administered an oral polio vaccine to a Filipino child, effectively sowing the seed of what would become known as PolioPlus, Rotary International’s most ambitious global program aimed at totally eradicating the debilitating childhood disease.

That spot in Guadalupe Viejo is where the RC Makati clubhouse now stands. It is in effect ground zero for the PolioPlus campaign that,

FROM TOP LEFT:

Pres. Reggie Nolido addresses teachers in Mentoring the Mentors workshop

Teacher-scholars under the Teacher Training Program work on a Science project

FROM TOP LEFT:

Unveiling of re-installed marker commemorating

participation of RI President

James Bomar in a polio

immunization mission at RC Makati

compound in 1979 that set off Rotary’s

global PolioPlus program.

Close-up of refurbished marker that

hangs at entrance to RC Makati

clubhouse in Guadalupe Viejo,

Makati

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owing to the success it has scored after 36 years, has evolved, finally, into “End Polio Now.”

That historic moment was commemorated in a marker installed at the Guadalupe site in 1979 and reinstalled at the entrance to the RC Makati clubhouse on July 1, 2013. It reads:

“On this Saturday, 29 September 1979, was launched in the Philippines the Health, Hunger & Humanity Programme of Rotary International to immunize 6 million children between the ages of 3 and 36 months against poliomyelitis.”

First Health Project and TRF Grant

The Club’s health advocacy began in RY 1969-1970 with the establishment of a

health clinic on Polilio Island in Quezon Province. Funded by a World Community Service grant, the very first in a long list of grants received by the Club from The Rotary Foundation (TRF), the clinic catered to the health needs of the community of fisher folk, with provisions of basic medicine, medical checkups by and consultations with volunteer doctors, and informal lessons on personal hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, and disease prevention.

Feeding Program for Body and Mind

Providing good nutrition to young children, especially those belonging to financially

challenged families, has been a concern for RC Makati since RY 1972-1973 when feeding centers were set up in the “barrios” (now called “barangays”) of Makati. Severely malnourished children were provided free meals on a daily basis and weighed periodically to measure their progress.

The program was carried on through RY 1978-1979, when it was christened “Mothercraft Project” since it was expanded to include the education of mothers on nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, health, family planning, and related issues.

In 1986, the responsibility for the feeding centers was transferred from the Club to the Makati City government and to various parishes.

The project was revived in 2004 with a feeding program for 30 children in the Club’s adopted Gawad Kalinga community in Kaingin in Parañaque. The Club’s response to RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe’s challenge to Rotary Clubs to do their share in the global effort at poverty reduction, the project was among those visited by the RI president during his stop in Manila in January 2004.

In RY 2006-2007, the project took a step farther to include mental feeding, partnering

with Bagong Kulturang Pinoy for story-telling sessions that introduced children to books.

In RY 2007-2008, it was further expanded beyond its original mission, with the choice of young children in the pre-school age group as the program’s primary beneficiaries. Learning that medication alone, without proper nutrition, cannot arrest the disease, the Club has made supplemental feeding a companion project to TB treatment.

To date, the project has fed thousands of children all over Binondo in Manila, Pasig, Tanay, Bay in Laguna, Calatagan in Batangas, Baguio City, and Tagudin in Ilocos Sur. It provides each child with one hot meal and a glass of milk every day for 156 days. The meal supplies about 30 percent of the recommended energy and nutrient intake for young children. For easier management, each module is limited to 30 children. The mothers plan the menus in advance and take turns in buying ingredients and preparing the food, making sure that the meal is nutritious.

Credit for the project’s success rate of 97% is shared with project partners — the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development, Kabisig ng Kalahi, Rotary Clubs, private foundations, and corporate sponsor Mead Johnson.

Forty Years of TB Eradication

The Club’s involvement in the fight against TB started in 1975 when it linked up

with the Philippine Tuberculosis Society to train a group of nutritionists and volunteers in administering the anti-TB vaccine, BCG. The volunteers were eventually fielded for an immunization drive that benefited 822 children.

The effort intensified when the Club entered into an exclusive partnership with Direct Relief International, a US-based humanitarian agency, for the distribution of TB medicine in the country.

With its DRI connection, the Club was encouraged to start a massive anti-TB project in two towns in Cavite — Dasmariñas and Carmona, resettlement communities for former informal settlers, majority of whom had tested positive for TB. The project was funded by a TRF matching grant of $162,000 and implemented in partnership with the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development and AKAPKA Foundation. The project was discontinued in 1990 when the two communities were declared TB-free.

Revived in RY 2001-2002 with the focus shifting to children with primary complex, the new round provided treatment to over 2,800 patients, using funds from three TRF grants totaling $130,000.

PDG Tony Quila attends to child with primary complex at launch of “End Polio Now” project

PP Freddie Borromeo hands out

glasses of milk to children in

feeding center

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During the centennial of Rotary International in 2004-2005, the Club renewed its commitment to the anti-TB cause by leading the “Rotary Declaration Against TB” and spearheading “Stop TB 2005, ”a program that involved all Rotary Clubs in the 10 Rotary districts in the Philippines, together with the World Health Organization, Department of Health, and the Philippine Coalition Against TB.

In 2008, concern about the increase of multi-drug resistant (MDR) cases prompted the Club to make a donation of P500,000 to the Philippine International Center for TB to help fund its work of finding a cure for the MDR strain.

The Club carries on with the project, nursing sick children back to health, 30 at a time. Its anti-TB scheme is likely to go on as long as there are Filipinos, young and old, who face risk with the disease.

Medical Missions

When the late Serafin “Boy” Hilvano, a noted surgeon at the Philippine General

Hospital (PGH), joined the Club in 1989, he birthed a project that would outlive him.

After 27 years, the PGH surgical missions continue after Dr. Hilvano’s death, as no doubt he would have wanted. They offer free surgery to poor patients suffering from gall stones, hemorrhoids, hernia, goiter, breast cancer, meningocoele, and once in a while,

hydrocephalus. The operations are performed by a team of volunteer surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses from UP-PGH.

The PGH project was preceded by the Cleft Palate & Lip Project, a one-man operation that started in 1980-1981 with deformity-correction surgeries performed by Dr. Jorge Neri, pro bono, at the Makati Medical Center. He handled the project for most of the decade, ushering many young boys and girls, marked from birth, from shyness to confidence.

Through the decades, the Club conducted medical and dental missions in many communities within and outside Metro Manila. Standouts in memory were a polio immunization mission in Bauang, La Union, several dental missions in Parañaque performed by volunteer dentists from sister club RC Itako, a number of missions in Brgys. La Paz and Cabanelas in Makati, and periodic medical-dental missions at the Club’s adopted Gawad Kalinga communities in Kaingin and Villa Paraiso in Parañaque.

An Array of Health Initiatives

A project that had a deep impact on students in Parañaque from 2010 to 2012 was Vision

for Education, which gave visually impaired students reading glasses. The Club linked up with optical shops and optometrists, who gave the students eye tests and made customized reading glasses for them. The impact was as instantaneous as it was dramatic — the children’s eyes lit up the moment they tried on their new eyewear. It was, indeed, an eye opener in more ways than the literal. By the time the project folded in 2012, over 1,650 students in eight public schools had received a pair of those eye-opening blessings and from then on, done well in school.

The Club’s concern for eye health was concretized in a number of other projects — a campaign against nutritional blindness due to deficiency in Vitamin A; a mobile eye clinic outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment where ophthalmologist Dr. Vic Caparas performed cataract and glaucoma operations; cataract operations in the mobile eye clinic in Brgy. Cabanelas in Makati; and Save an Eye, a project that offered free eye check-ups and surgery to cataract patients.

There were other health schemes that the Club undertook in the past: a Portage Project for the early detection of mental deficiency among infants and toddlers and the prescription of

intervention measures for parents; a Targeted Maternal & Child Care Program under which mothers and their children were given free consultation and medicine; and a Hepa B immunization drive during which some 1,700 school children received the life-saving shots, free of charge. The Club also gave donations of prosthetic limbs to needy amputees under the Jaipur Foot project and of pacemakers to indigent heart patients.

Many other advocacies have been pursued by Rotary Club Makati, among these Vocational Service, Youth Development, Career Guidance, Frank Chavez Bantay Bata (Child Watch), Potable Water, The Environment, Relief Operations and Disaster Preparedness.

It has also networked for synergy with project partners. Rarely has the Rotary Club of Makati gone it alone in projects designed to benefit a large number and run a long time. That has been its service strategy since its birth in March 1966 — to join hands with organizations, public and private, that can best push a project forward, so that it can do the most good for more people for the longest possible while.

PGH surgeons at work under

the Boy Hilvano Medical

Missions Project

School children in Parañaque sport smiles and new eyeglasses received from Vision for Education Project

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As the Rotary Club of Makati celebrated its 50th anniversary, it marked a significant

turning point in the Club’s history, highlighting as well all the pioneering and subsequent energetic efforts of several generations of members.

For any organization to survive, it requires continuous planning for succession. The torch is passed every so often. The course engages a continuum of generations.

It has helped as well that not a few Club members can trace their Rotarian roots to bloodlines and family relations.

As has already been mentioned earlier in this book, the Rotarian spirit runs strong in a number of families, among those the ones of PRID Paing Hechanova, the De Leons Carding and Dicky and PDG Tony Quila, the Ngs Peter and Joseph, PP Freddie Borromeo whose maternal uncle Amancio Sun was a charter member, the Rufinos PP Charlie and PP Carlo and his cousin Andrew Prieto , as well as other father-and-son tandems, namely PP Reuben Valerio and Miko, PP Roland Young and Sam, and the late Irving Ackerman and David, who is set to serve as president in 2016-2017.

These filial relations have all enriched the world of Rotary, imbuing it as well with the strength of a continuity of succession in terms of hearty leadership.

Of late, a new generation of leaders has come to the fore, known as “The Young Turks.” They have started to take on increasingly important roles and will certainly lead the Club into the next chapter of its history.

To name a few, there are: Dir. Louie Aseoche, who headed the Induction Ball committee and directed the 50th anniversary event; PE David Ackerman who will soon be the youngest president after PP Carlo Rufino who had been the youngest at 35; Miko Valerio who handled the Nutcracker fundraiser that raised a very tidy sum; and Shalimar Tamano who chairs Bantay Bata and spearheads the PR campaign with Philippine Daily Inquirer to get the Club featured more prominently, together with Andrew Prieto who also conducts medical missions.

RC Makati has been the consistent top-notcher in TRF giving in the district.

On its 50th anniversary year in 2015-2016, it set a new record in Paul Harris Fellows, enlisting 100, double the original target for the year, a figure that is without precedent in District 3830.

Its all-time giving as of 30 April 2016 stood at $1,938,231.54, for a per capita giving of $13,746.32 against a member count of 141, another record. It’s a long, long way from the $1,000 contribution in January 1972 made by then IPP Ford Tussing towards a Paul Harris Fellow, the very first for RC Makati.

RC Makati is the only Club in the country credited with four members of the Arch Klumph Society (AKS), the elite club of major gift donors whose cumulative giving has reached at least $250,000: Past RI Director Rafael Hechanova and PDG Robert Kuan and two non-Rotarians: philanthropist Angelo King and banker Frederick Dy.

The Club has 14 other major donors — PP Freddie Borromeo in Level 2, the rest in Level 1: PDG Pepito Bengzon, PP Jonny Carlos, Mon Diokno, Mike Escaler, PDG Sid Garcia, PP Ric Librea,PDG Tony Quila, PP Carlos del Rosario, PP Charlie Rufino, PP Sonny Tambunting, Johnson Tan, Frank Yih and PP Roland Young. Four of them reached major donor status on the Club’s 50th anniversary year.

As big a giver as it is, RC Makati is a big receiver of TRF grants too.

The first TRF grant it received was for a World Community Service project on Polilio Island during the term of Pres. Fred Nassr in 1969-1970, a good three years before the Club’s first recorded contribution of $1,000 to the Foundation.

The Club has since been the receiving end of TRF beneficence.

In the past 10 years alone, it has received $553,991 in grants for 13 projects — including a global grant for a health project to treat over 900 TB-afflicted children and another, a donation of fishing boats to 168 fishermen in Leyte.

The biggest grant it has received so far was a $189,000 3H grant for a water project in San Fernando, Pampanga in 1999-2000. Its second biggest was a $162,000 matching grant in 1986-1987 for a TB control project for informal settler families relocated from Metro Manila to two resettlement sites in Cavite.

RC Makati stands as concrete proof of the validity and effectiveness of The Rotary Foundation’s program of give and take.

Baby Elora Rufino (left) and

Baby Emilia Ackerman,

youngest of 100 Paul Harris

Fellows enlisted on the Club’s

50th year, with, L-R: PP Charlie

Rufino, PP Carlo & Cat

Rufino, Pres. Eddie Yap, PE

Dave & Mache Ackerman,

and DG Pepito Bengzon.

“The Young Turks” at a mini-social in their honor hosted by PP Gigi Zulueta at Barcino, Rockwell Center in Makati.

Rotary Club Makati

192

Then too, there are members who serve behind the scenes, such as Julian Lim who makes sure about budgets as treasurer of the Club, Jun Lumagui who serves as legal council and assistant treasurer, Chris Fereraza who helps keep accounting ledgers in check, and Bobby Lee who coordinates golf activities.

Then there are Bom Villatuya who was among the ushers at the dance-concert at Alphaland (Bom, the son of PP Nick Villatuya of

RC Alabang, was also in one of the dance groups during the Christmas party), Sam Young who has been invocator a number of times, Don Lino who joined a recent trip to Calapan to launch an anti-TB project, and Lloyd Chon who heads career guidance.

There, too, are Jose Gonzales, who mobilized the Baby Rotarians as ushers for the ‘Spirit of ’67 Dance Concert,’ Carlo Santos, guitarist for the in-house band that played in the dance-concert, Dan Lim, also an usher at the dance-concert, who was in the welcome team for sister clubs during the March 12 gala and is a member of the golf team, and Rommel Bernardo who has taken on assignments in the weekly program. Dan and Rommel have also signed up as Paul Harris Fellows, as have Porsche Pena and S. K. Kim, while Manny Padiernos has been tapped for participation in the weekly program and for the Christmas Party dance contest.

The key for the Rotary club of Makati for the next 50 years is to continue to nurture its next generation of leaders who have learned from all the past presidents’ experiences and take inspiration from the rich half-century of heritage, yet at the same time make Rotary relevant to the fast-paced internet generation, so that it may not only endure but thrive in the coming years, well into a bright future.

They will be the ones setting sail for new horizons for the Rotary Club of Makati.

Of late, a new generation of leaders

has come to the fore, known as “The Young Turks.” They have started to take

on increasingly important roles and

will certainly lead the Club into the next

chapter of its history.

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Club of Makati



Club of Makati 50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

Club of Makati

Setting Sail fo

r New

Ho

rizon

s

50YEARS

1966 ~ 2016

The Rotarian spirit was once again in full display at the old seaport in Ormoc City during the 2016 turnover ceremony for the Gift of Boats project.

50EARS Setting Sail for - Rotary Club of Makati

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