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Editor's Note
April 2024
You Can Do Magic
Pressed for time, I joined the facilitation team for one of the breakout sessions in the District Training Assembly of D3830. The opening session had been extended almost an hour beyond schedule. The focus was on Membership: How to grow our Rotary clubs so that their vibrancy will animate People of Action determined and committed to serve and be a force for good in our communities and in the world.
Around 200 presidents-elect, assistant governors, and club membership chairs participated. Earlier, they heard our District Governor-elect Prescy Yulo explain President-elect Stephanie Urchick’s action program on weaving The Magic of Rotary. This was followed by a presentation on the Rotary Action program anchored on four priorities Impact, Reach, Engage, and Adapt.
The break-out focused on the need to create an irresistible club experience that will impel and sustain service initiatives. As Ms. Urchick emphasized: “We pioneered a model of service leadership more than a century ago based on person-to-person connections. That model is just as powerful today as ever. Except now, those individual connections span the globe. Today’s Rotary doesn’t just reach out to act on communities’ needs close to home; we transcend borders, generations, languages, cultures, and historic differences to create hope for a better world.”
Five-minute video clips were shown on how exemplary Rotary Clubs reach out and implement high-impact service initiatives. Bonded by fellowship, they reached out and touched people at risk and in need of compassion, sustenance and nourishment.
The final presentation was accompanied by America’s You Can Do Magic, a light and breezy song that lifted the Rotarian leaders’ spirits:
You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You’re the one who can put out the fire
You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
Then it happened. They stood up and clapped, then they swayed and danced. First, those in the front rows, followed by those behind them. Everybody was dancing, from 23-year old Anara Chiongbian of RC Makati Premier District’s satellite club to 93-year old Papa Nards Baylon of RC Parañaque North.
Right there, right then, they experienced The Magic of Rotary
March 2024
Change and continuity
Early this month, we bade farewell to Herman Tiamson Gamboa, past district governor and editor -in-chief of the Philippine Rotary Magazine in the early nineties, who passed away after a lingering illness. He was 85. Last week, I learned that the Rotary Club of Parañaque decided to accept his granddaughter Dustine as its fi rst female member.
Last month, I was invited to speak at a club meeting graced by the presence of a good number of members’ spouses. When asked for their views on how they could revitalize their club, one of them said that, perhaps, it was time, too, to consider allowing female members into their club.
These vignettes reflect the changing landscape of Rotary service, which was the focus of last month’s Rotary Concerns (Rotacon) forum in Cebu held under the auspices of the Philippine College of Rotary Governors (PCRG).
Past Director Jesse Herman, the keynote speaker, highlighted three recent RI Board decisions aimed at reshaping and revitalizing Rotary service: first, the propagation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); the formation of new types of clubs to strengthen membership; and third, a pilot regionalization program in Australia and Great Britain.
The latter initiative veers away from the current mode in which a country, say, the Philippines, is divided into ten (10) districts, each headed by a District Governor who, as an officer of Rotary International, is empowered to ensure observance of RI policies and rules.
Even as these changes are being implemented, emphasis is placed on the continuity of plans and programs — upon which the vitality of Rotary thrives.
When I was a new Rotarian and Herman Gamboa served as our District Governor, RI’s theme was Enjoy Rotary! Joyfulness is an essential element in Rotary’s service concept. According to the latest RI-commissioned survey of Rotarians worldwide, friendship is one of the primary reasons why people join and serve in Rotary. He was a gentle and jovial presence in meetings and service projects who vividly demonstrated that, indeed, we serve best in the company of friends.
February 2024
Club DNA: Key to vitality
More than a million Rotarians worldwide marked on February 23 Rotary’s 119th founding anniversary, which is also designated as Word Understanding and Peace Day. Indeed, Rotary is a harbinger of peace. As Rotarians immerse and involve themselves in addressing a community’s basic needs, they also endeavor to promote harmony and unity, by healing the wounds arising from conflict, inequity, and discrimination.
Lately, there have been growing concerns about Rotary’s difficulties in growing its membership. From a previous high of more than 1.2 million members, Rotary ‘s total membership has dipped and risen, but has not gone past that benchmark. Four years ago, then Rotary International President Holger Knaack enunciated a policy of organic membership growth.
What is the essence of organic growth?
In the context of Rotary, as explained by former President Knaack, it is to grow naturally, according to the origins, character and attributes of the Rotary Club’s membership that is shaped by its community and environs. This is the philosophy that prompted Rotary to diversify and expand the types of Rotary clubs that may be organized. For instance, a club may be composed solely of executives and managers of a single corporation — or a satellite club composed entirely of diving enthusiasts, may be organized, and appended to a diversified mother club.
Every club has its own DNA, or its distinct natural attributes. Its growth is driven by two types of life forces: first, the leaders and individuals, who, by the sheer power of their personality and character, or charisma, energize and animate the members of the Club; and second, the projects that engage the members so powerfully that the momentum carries them forward and sustains them for a good number of years.
Rotary International’s members are clubs, not individuals. Clubs must, therefore, embody and embrace the essence of Rotary: service through fellowship. The willingness to serve is fortified by the friendship among those serving together. Despite the diversity of their professions and personalities, Rotarians commit to serve their communities, out of an abiding belief that Service Above Self equates with love of God and humanity.
January 2024
Magic sauce
As a learning facilitator in organization planning, visioning and teambuilding, I shared this anecdote: “There was a man who never tried. He never laughed, he never cried. And when one day he died, his insurance was denied. They said because he never truly lived, he never could have died.”
To emphasize the irony, I showed a slide that said: “One of the most di cult things to live with is the burden of permanent potential.”
Reflecting on my past four decades as a Rotarian, I have realized that one of the most fulfilling aspects of being one is to continually engage in fellowship that flows into serving and making one’s community a better place every day. Realizing that I may have missed the opportunity to do so also “gave me a bit of heartache at the setting of the sun.”
An archaic grading system that was based on the normal curve frequently consigned many students into being rated Average or simply Passing. One student sought me out and told me: “Sir, I don’t think I deserve the grade of Pass that I gave you.” In our school’s grading system that translated into 82. I was stumped and could not reply immediately. Then I said something like this: “You should not measure your worth by the grades you receive. Rather, you should use this feedback as a spur for you to strive harder and prove to all and sundry that you are better.”
Years later, after returning from work leave, I changed my grading system. I told my students: “I will grade you on the basis of your best work, be it in recitation, or exams, or term papers.” I was amazed at how they were seemingly transformed. They became more excited about participating in class. They submitted reflection papers on their assigned readings even though they were not required. All told, they demonstrated a higher level of performance.
I realized then that the magic sauce of peak performance is igniting the spark that spurs a person to give the task at hand the best of one’s God-given talents and abilities.
We witness this phenomenon when we Serve Above Self.
December 2023
Reinvigorating Rotary
As we relish the joyful spirit of the Christmas season, we are gratified to hear beneficial news from Evanston. Reports on the salient decisions made during the latest RI Board meeting in end-October have sparked spirited discussion.
“Remove the requirement to hold an annual district conference.” This is one of the proposals that the RI Board agreed to submit to the Council on Legislation (COL) that will convene in the spring of 2025. While that’s a good one and a half years away, it has sparked spirited discussion this early.
The Discon is the single big event in which Rotarians from different clubs gather in fellowship and imbibe the Rotary spirit. The District Governor shares with all the Clubs a comprehensive report on all the service programs, projects and activities that have been launched and implemented by Rotary and Rotaract clubs during the year.
Beyond the many glitzy and awe-inspiring presentations, fellowship is the magic sauce of every Discon. Typically, a House of Friendship is set up amid exhibits and booths featuring service projects as well as products of companies that consider Rotarians, their families and communities as being patrons and consumers of their products and services.
Consider the configuration of our Rotary districts in the Philippines — and we will quickly realize the Discon’s vital importance, Districts 3770 and 3790 cover the eastern and western halves of the big island of Luzon north of Metro Manila, respectively. District 3820 covers Calabarzon and Bicol regions that also take nearly a day to traverse, if traveling by land, and where air or travel is still a secondary option. District 3850 is also geographically divergent, covering the Zamboanga peninsula, as well as the distant island-provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi — together with Western Visayas that includes both Panay island and half of Negros island. District 3860 is made up of Central and Eastern Visayas, as well as Davao region.
Indeed, the archipelagic configuration of the Philippines impels the holding of district conferences. The Discon serves as a grand fellowship experience that binds and invigorates Rotarians.
Meanwhile, the great humanitarian mission of Rotary unfolds daily with every sunrise in all the disparate time zones of the world.
A blessed Christmas to all! May the New Year 2024 bring forth an abundance of grace!
November 2023
Thanks & Giving
Gratitude is the memory of the heart.
We are continually grateful for blessings received, that’s why we keep them to heart. Every time we awake, we thank God for the gift of another day. Thanks and giving are staples of our life as Rotarians.
At the start of the District Conference at which I presided as District Governor in 1999, the opening number was the invocation, done through a dance interpretation to the tune of this song —
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the holy one
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ His Son
And now let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks!
Indeed, the Discon is an occasion for thanksgiving. We express gratitude for the gift of life — and for the time, talent and treasure that we have been given that have enabled us to become servant leaders in Rotary.
Rotary is inclusive. Although Filipino Rotarians are predominantly Christian, we recognize and respect all faiths — as these embody the essence of Rotary’s motto, Service Above Self. The Four Way Test of Rotary is universally applicable and relevant. Truth, Fairness, Goodwill and Friendship, Beneficence and Generosity toward others are eternal verities that all men and women of goodwill embrace.
Thanks and giving are intertwined. Our giving and sharing fl ow from our realization that we are not alone. Family and community channel our innate goodness toward the promotion of our brethren’s well-being. Joan Baez’s ‘No Man Is An Island’ says it all so well —
No man is an island,
No man stands alone,
Each man’s joy is joy to me,
Each man’s grief is my own.
We need one another,
So I will defend,
Each man as my brother,
Each man as my friend…
We all look to the one above,
For our strength to renew.
When I help my brother,
Then I know that I,
Plant the seed of friendship,
That will never die.
October 2023
Hail, Stephanie; Adieu, Jim & Rick
She was the second woman to be elected President of Rotary International. It’s no wonder that when she visited Philippine Rotary, Stephanie Urchick received a red-carpet welcome and rock-star admiration from her gracious hosts. Stephanie was in Manila last October 6-11, as she looked forward to the International Assembly in Florida in January 2024, at which she would unveil her signature theme.
Stephanie Urchick affirms her commitment to continuity in promoting RI's vision. Like her three predecessors — namely, Shekhar Mehta, Jennifer Jones and Gordon McInally -- she will continue ongoing programs on empowering girls, world leader meetings, and public-facing events. She also believes in digital acceleration, “inviting clubs to virtual ‘chats’ with Senior leaders and 7-minute virtual networking sessions,” and expressing her wish for a Rotary App, just like what our PRM has pioneered in establishing since two years ago.
Stephanie witnessed a Multi-District PETS, then went to Lipa City to visit the Rotary Homes project of Past District Governor Gina Sy who served as her Aide. She was accompanied, too, by four incoming District Governors who will serve with her starting in July 2024. She also graced the induction of the Philippine College of Rotary Governors and a dinner hosted by the Inter-Country Committee of the Philippines and Taiwan.
A few days before Stephanie arrived in Manila, we received sad news: the death of James “Jim” Lacy, who served as Rotary International President in 1998-1999 during my year as District Governor, at the age of 92. His Rotary theme was, Follow Your Rotary Dream.
Jim and his wife Claudine — he married her at age 18 after graduating from high school — traveled extensively on six continents, representing Rotary. He focused his efforts on Polio Plus, a program to inoculate children against the dreaded virus, obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars of funding from the program. In 2018, Rotary conferred on him a Polio Plus Pioneer award, an honor he shares with about 60 other leaders.
A week after Jim Lacy’s death, another RI President — also highly-respected and admired by many leaders of Philippine Rotary — passed away: Richard ‘Rick’ King, who served in 2001-2002, with the theme, Mankind is our Business. He was an inspirational speaker at the International Assembly, the training event that prepares incoming district governors for their year of service. He also served as RI President’s Representative to the District Conference of D3830 in 2015. He was 85.
We salute the memory of Jim Lacy and Rick King; their deeds will continue to light our forward pathways
September 2023
Time to end political in-fighting
In an unprecedented move — and with an unmistakable sense of urgency — Rotary International President Gordon McInally and RI President-elect Stephanie Urchick issued a letter-appeal to all Rotary leaders in the Philippines to end factionalism and stop political in-fighting in electing District, Regional and Zone leaders.
While noting “positive developments” such as “innovative projects” and “strong giving” to The Rotary Foundation, they deplored “the persistent infighting (that) goes against Rotary’s core values and code of conduct while damaging Rotary’s public image in the region and beyond.”
They wrote pointedly: “This pattern of conflict must end now. We are asking you to do your part to end it.” They signaled a zero appetite for entertaining complaints and protests that may be elevated to RI, urging that disputes be resolved amicably at the local level. This calls to mind a laudable project of the Philippine College of Rotary Governors (PCRG) — when its Chair was Past District Governor Samuel Pagdilao, Jr. — to establish and maintain mediation, arbitration, and dispute resolution mechanisms.
I urge fellow Rotary leaders to heed their appeal. Indeed, there is no place for politicking and partisanship in Rotary; these go against the Four-Way Test and put our organization to shame.
The two leaders’ appeal reminded me of when I stood for election as District Governor and when, as Governor, I presided over elections for three new Governors.
When I ran for Governor, I was elected by a slim margin of five votes in a bruising contest in which I witnessed unbecoming conduct among Rotarians. During my watch, I did all I could to ensure that the elections were conducted aboveboard. It was not easy, but in the end, it was well worth the endeavor.
The conduct and behavior of the incumbent District Governor is all-important. When he or she refrains from showing indirect or direct support to any candidate, past governors and club leaders would be highly motivated to behave accordingly. When the governor manifests support for a candidate, this opens the floodgates for all the unsavory and deleterious consequences of partisan campaigning.
Many long-time friendships have been destroyed by the cancer of partisan politics. Countless members of Rotary clubs have been dismayed and discouraged by the unbecoming conduct of incumbent and past Governors.
Let us heed our leaders’ appeal.
August 2023
Ahon, Siargao!: Rotary creates hope
In 1989, I joined the faculty of the nascent Master in Development Program (MDM) program of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). Instead of catering solely to the needs of business and industry by offering the traditional Master in Business Administration (MBA) program, AIM — then led by its President and Dean Gaston Z. Ortigas, Sr. — opted to broaden AIM’s scope and influence by dedicating a program that focused on developing managers who would serve in government and public administration, and civil society.
Eduardo Moratò, Jr., the AIM’s first High Distinction graduate, conceptualized and designed the MDM program. It was a one-year program for senior managers in government and the NGO sector. Instead of focusing on industries and private enterprises, the MDM program beamed the spotlight on the dynamics of management in a province, city, or municipality; or in the national governance milieu.
Fast forward to our feature story on Ahon, Siargao!, a multi pronged response to ensure the recovery and resurgence of an island in Surigao del Norte province that bore the brunt of devastation from Typhoon Odette (Rai) that struck in December 2021.
Ahon Siargao Assistance Program or ASAP — underlining the urgency of its purpose — mobilized the local government, the church, the Department of Labor and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and partnered with Rotary in launch ing multi-pronged e orts toward uplifting quality of life in the island.
Coratec Jimenez, an MDM graduate and former chairperson of the Alumni Association of AIM (AIM) quarterbacked the multi-stake holder initiative. She tapped the TESDA Deputy Director General, also an MDM graduate, for comprehensive engagement in conducting carpentry and other skills training. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) pitched in by providing funding support for livelihood programs. The local government led by Mayor Angie Arcena pulled out all stops in ensuring active mobilization of the citizenry at the barangay level.
Rotary assistance provided the proverbial icing on the cake. District 3860 Governor Rozanne ‘Twinkle’ Gamboa enabled the provision of carpentry tool kits to each of the 27 TESDA certification eligibles in time for their graduation last August 22 — even while she was in conducting Governor’s visits and gracing Club inductions in Eastern Visayas.
Truly, Rotary creates hope in the world!
July 2023
A new year of caring, sharing, serving
Rotarians turn a new page this month as clubs rededicate themselves to serving their communities. Filipino Rotarians ushered in their new year of service by hosting children’s parties, a tradition that started in 2014 at the suggestion of Past R.I. President M.A.T. Caparas. He believed that it is important for Rotarians to win the hearts and minds of Filipino children. This is a way of demonstrating to them that “Rotarians are warm, kind and caring people; they will serve as our guides in charting our future.”
Create Hope in the World is the clarion call issued by Rotary International President Gordon McInally: “All people of action need to be able to imagine a place for themselves in Rotary — it’s up to us to ensure they can do so…I will be putting a focus on continuing our journey in diversity, equity, and inclusion — ensuring that Rotary reflects the communities we serve and continues to take significant steps toward accessing the full range of human talents and experiences, so that we can better serve humanity.”
Each of us must reflect on how we could best employ our God given talents and resources. Our personal vocation or profession is the starting point. By excelling in our work every time — and all the time — we share our gifts and talents. Imagine the tremendous multiplier e ect of this ideal scenario.
Our clubs are hubs where people converge, as well as launching pads for service initiatives. It is time to revive regular, face-to-face club meetings so we could re-energize ourselves through fellowship, the magic sauce that nourishes and revitalizes our innate willingness to reach out and serve.
Giving our time and sharing our talents should also be complemented by sharing our treasure. Our contributions to The Rotary Foundation (TRF) go a long way toward funding global grants to worthwhile humanitarian projects initiated by clubs. We are pleased to share with you that Philippine Rotarians collectively achieved all-time high records in giving to TRF. Our total contributions reached nearly $7 million, sixth best in the world. Total contributions from Rotarians in five out of 10 districts surpassed the million- dollar mark.
Let us rededicate ourselves to our commitment to serve, in fellowship with each other as we move our clubs toward higher ground.