Discon 2013, RI District 3830

The District Conference (DisCon) of Rotary International (RI) District 3830 will start tomorrow afternoon at the Manila Hotel. It will be a 1 1/2 days plus 2 nights of various activities. The hotel President, also Past President of RC Makati Central, Joey Lina, is my classmate President during RY 2006-07, under Past District Governor Butch Francisco. Here is the program of Discon 2013.

DAY 1                                    MARCH 22

PLENARY                              1:30PM

TIME	ACTIVITY
8:00AM – 8:010AM	OPENING OF EXHIBIT AND ROTARY MEDIA WALL ·         RI PRESIDENT’S REPRESENTATIVE  PAUL PO-YEN HORNG ·         DISTRICT GOVERNOR SUZANNE STA. MARIA ·         PAST DISTRICT GOVERNOR ED & SPOUSE MARIZ ALVAREZ, SENIOR RIPR AIDES ·         DISCON CHAIR AND DISTRICT SECRETARY MARYCRIS OPLAS ·         PAST PRESIDENT PETER AND SPOUSE MABEL KAWSEK, RIPE AIDES, AEG CHOCHIT TOBIAS
9:00AM – 12:00NN	SHOPPING AT BOOTHS, FOYER AREA
10:00AM – 12:00NN	REGISTRATION AT DISTRICT SECRETARIAT’S ROOM, GALLERY ROOM
12:00NN – 1:30PM	ASSEMBLY AT FOYER AREA FOR PROCESSIONAL (GOVERNORS AND SPOUSES TO BE SEATED AT VIP TABLES IN PLENARY HALL AND WILL BE ESCORTED OUT FOR PROCESSIONAL AT 1:15PM)
1:30PM – 1:50PM	ENTRY OF DIGNITARIES (PROCESSIONAL MARCH)
1:50PM – 1:58PM	DOXOLOGY KUNDIRANA, LA SALLE GREENHILLS HIGH SCHOOL
1:58PM – 2:25PM	ENTRY OF COLORS PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD MALAYSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM KOREAN NATIONAL ANTHEM TAIWAN NATIONAL ANTHEM PHILIPPINE NATIONAL ANTHEM
2:25PM – 2:30PM	CALL TO ORDER GOVERNOR SUZANNE STA. MARIA
2:30PM – 2:45PM	WELCOME REMARKS / CONFERENCE OVERVIEW DISTRICT SECRETARY AND DISCON CHAIR, MARYCRIS OPLAS ROTARY CLUB OF MAKATI URDANETA, DISCON HOST CLUB
2:45PM – 3:00M	INTRODUCTION OF DIGNITARIES PAST PRESIDENT AND DISTRICT LEGAL COUNSEL  RAFFY AQUINO
3:00PM – 3:20PM	ROLL CALL OF CLUBS AND PEACE PRESIDENTS ·         DISTRICT SECRETARY AND DISCON CHAIR MARYCRIS OPLAS ·         EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT GOVERNOR CHOCHIT TOBIAS
3:20M – 3:30PM	MESSAGE DISTRICT GOVERNOR CHUNG MIN HO DISTRICT 3620, KOREA, SISTER-DISTRICT OF DISTRICT 3830
3:30PM – 4:00PM	MESSAGE GOVERNOR SUZANNE STA. MARIA
4:10PM – 4:50PM	INTRODUCTION OF THE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S  REPRESENTATIVE  (RIPR)  PAST DISTRICT  GOVERNOR ED ALVAREZ MESSAGE RIPR PAUL PO-YEN HORNG
4:50PM – 5:05PM	MINI CONCERT OF BROADWAY SONGS KUNDIRANA
5:05PM – 5:10PM	ADJOURNMENT BY GOVERNOR SUZANNE STA. MARIA
5:10PM – 5:15PM	ANNOUNCEMENTS SPONSOR CREDITS END OF PLENARY DAY 1

TALENT NIGHT       7:00PM

TIME	ACTIVITY
7:00PM – 8:15PM	DINNER
8:15PM – 8:30PM	ANNOUNCEMENTS: START OF SHOW
8:30PM – 8:45PM	OPENING MESSAGE GOVERNOR SUZANNE STA. MARIA
8:45PM – 8:55PM	HOSTS ENTRANCE ·         PEACE PRESIDENT LIZA MAGPAGU, RC MUNTINLUPA FILINVEST ·         PEACE PRESIDENT JOHN VINTA, RC PARANAQUE ST. ANDREW
8:55PM – 9:05PM	INTRODUCTION OF JUDGES AND MECHANICS ·         JOY VIRATA (CHAIR OF BOARD OF JUDGES) ONE OF THE TOP PERFORMERS OF REPERTORY PHILIPPINES; BOARD MEMBER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, REPERTORY PHILIPPINES CHILDREN’S THATER ·         LIESL BATUCAN, ONE OF THE TOP PERFORMERS OF REPERTORY PHILIPPINES ·         PROF. RAMON MA. ACOYMO,  FORMER DEAN, U.P. COLLEGE OF MUSIC; FORMER DIRECTOR, KUNDIRANA & ATENEO GLEE CLUB ·         RAMON SILVESTRE, ABS-CBN PERFORMANCE COACH FOR “PINOY DREAM ACADEMY”;  MEMBER OF SINGING GROUP, “THE TUX” ·         ANNA DAVID, EVENT PRODUCER, CTV MANILA INC.
9:05PM – 9:17PM	GROUP 1 : LION KING (ROTARY MAKATI 1 CLUBS)
9:17PM – 9:29PM	GROUP 2 : BOMBAY DREAMS (ROTARY PALAWAN CLUBS)
9:29PM – 9:41PM	GROUP 3 : CATS (ROTARY MAKATI 2 CLUBS)
9:42PM – 9:55PM	GROUP 4 : CABARET (METRO SOUTH CLUBS)
9:53PM – 10:05PM	GROUP 5 : PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (PARANAQUE CLUBS)
10:05PM – 10:20PM	HOSTS (WHILE JUDGES ARE DELIBERATING)
10:20PM – 10:20PM	HOSTS’ INTERVIEW OF JUDGES
10:17PM – 10:450M	AWARDING OF WINNERS ·         FIRST RUNNER UP ·         GRAND WINNER
10:40PM – 11:00PM	CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENTS SPONSOR CREDIT

DAY 2                                    MARCH 23

PLENARY                              8:00AM 

Goodbye, Classmate Ces Singzon

Rotary life and my many friends there -- my clubmates, my classmates when we were Club Presidents in Rotary Year 2006-2007 "Lead the Way" theme, and others -- have been part of my life since the middle of last decade.

Among my favorite classmates is Atty. Cesareo "Ces" Singzon. He was the Club President of RC Makati McKinley. Upper left seems to be his favorite photo as it was his latest profile photo in facebook. Middle right, when he visited Kazakhstan in 2009.

Classmate Ces is the most gallant among us. It is usual for a Club President of a big or rich club to invite all his/her classmates during his/her club induction of officers and new members with the District Governor as the inducting officer. Ces did that, held at Makati Sports Club sometime in July 2006. I did it too, but with about five other small clubs in our District, we held a joint induction in order to save money.

Now Ces went beyond that. During his birthday celebration on January 18, 2007, he again invited all of his clsssmates to a night of food, drinks and entertainment, also held at Makati Sports Club. When his club celebrated its charter or anniversary day, he again invited all of his classmates for the 3rd time. And when he celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary with wife Mel Singzon, he again invited all of his classmates for the 4th time that rotary year, to another night of food, drinks and speeches. I have attended all four parties that Ces extended to his classmates. He was the only one among us 78 classmates (for 78 clubs) in the District who did it.

Photos below: With classmates Jay Tambunting of RC Makati West, Lorenz Tato of RC Makati Bonifacio, Archie Jimenez, and Ces. I think this was during the birthday party of another classmate Tetchie dela Cruz a few months ago. Lorenz has passed away about two months ago. He was the second among our classmates who rejoined our Creator.

Middle photo, with other classmates that night. From left: Lorenz, Rose Acoba, Lilibeth dela Cruz, Tetchie, Ces and Jay. I followed that night too, but it was already late and Ces and several others have already left.

Lower photo, when Ces' first child, Cesario Jr., topped the 2010 bar exams, he was #1 out of several thousand aspiring lawyers, Ces again gave a celebration party. That was our photo in our table. Standing from left: Past District Governor Sid Garcia, me, classmate Toni Francisco, John Sobrepena.
Sitting from left: Patty Chiong, my wife Ella, Past District Governor Jimmy Cura, classmate Noe Indonto, and former DepEd UnderSecretary ______.

Some photos of Ces and wife Mel. Lovely couple. Ces is very proud of his Junior: Class Valedictorian of Ateneo Law 2010, #1 Bar exams 2010, finished LLM from Columbia University Law School in NYC, a James Kent scholar (first honors) only last May. I and many of Ces' friends congratulated him for the intellectual achievement of his Junior, he kidded that it was due to "improvement of species."

Last August 18, 2012, we had a get together with some classmates, with our beloved Governor at that time, Past District Governor Butch Francisco. Ces was not able to join us. When I posted in our LeadTeam yahoogroups my blog post about our reunion the next day, August 19, Ces sent me a private mail saying he wanted to come but he's confined in Makati Medical Center (MMC) the day before. I visited him in his room that day, or a day after. I immediately kidded him that he lacks beer or alcohol that is why he is hospitalized. He said that when he went to MMC to have a check up why he was getting dizzy, from the emergency room he was confined that day. Results of a CT scan showed some lumps in his head that could lead to stroke, so he was confined for several days.

My deep regret, I was not able to visit him again in the hospital as I promised him. But I was very fortunate to have visited and saw him. For the last time.

Yesterday afternoon. Ces passed away. I was deeply saddened when I heard that text message from classmate Rose Acoba. Have to fight tears as I write this.

Below, a photo posted in his fb wall, made by some of his friends.

It is raining very hard since this afternoon until now. A typhoon has left the Philippines already but it could be the Heavens' act of condolence to Ces and his family.

I am going to his wake after I post this and shut down my computer. His body is at Loyola Guadalope in Makati. Then it will be brought to his hometown in Samar on Tuesday.

My good friend, my classmate in Rotary, goodbye Ces. We shall dearly miss you....

* See also my posting about his birthday party in 2010, "Classmate Ces Singzon's birthday party", January 23, 2010,  http://rotarianpinoy.blogspot.com/2010/01/classmate-ces-singsons-birthday-party.html.

Lead Team Get Together with Gov. Butch

Yesterday, we had a small get together of former Lead Presidents, RY 2006-2006 of RI District 3830. Modest reunion, we just met at Starbucls in Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street, Fort Global City in Taguig.  It was a nice occasion. The last time we had a get together was last December, our former Gov. Butch Francisco treated us to watch "The Sound of Music" play at the Resort World, near the airport terminal 3. I did not write a blog article about it. My last blog post about our Lead reunions was in February 2009, there were many of us then, about 40. See photos and story here,  "Sea bass regal and a fellowship",

http://rotarianpinoy.blogspot.com/2009/02/sea-bass-regal-and-fellowship.html.

One of our group photos before Gov. Butch arrived (above) and with him (below). Standing from let to right: Classmates Patty Naoe, Edwin Afzelius, Lilibeth dela Cruz, Charlie Fuentes, Palmy Layug, Palmy's wife Nini, Rose Acoba, me. Sitting from left: Archie Jimenez, Amore Isip, Fely Rosales, Luz Reyes, Barbie Rivadeniera.

Above, the three right most: Maling Francisco (Gov Butch's wife), Maling Mom, and Gov. Butch.

Among the big revelations yesterday was classmate Inky Reyes' really slim look (upper left photo, white shirt). He used to be fat and bulky. He must have lost at least 50 lbs since many months ago. I kidded him that his house must have been severely flooded recently that he was not able to eat for three days or more. He said he was gulping this particular enzyme that really enhances the body's metabolism, so that almost no fat is  stored even after eating lots of food.

More photos... Some two of those who left before Gov. Butch came were Rey Alas (behind Archie Jimenez) and Tess Sanchez (front of Archie) in the upper left photo below.

We were supposed to wear dress that identifies our color code during our President-Elects Training Seminar (PETS), that was in early March 2006. Below, lower right, Charlie and I forgot to wear a red shirt, so we shared holding the red bag of fellow Red teammate Luz Reyes, hehe.

Pa-cute, hehe. Beside Tess. Tess is a medico legal at MMC. Said she does not know how to facebook, haha. 

When Gov. Butch came, he invited us to a nearby resto, also at the 3rd floor of Fully Booked, The White Hat resto. Nice place, not crowded unlike Starbucks.

Gov. Butch ordered many food at The White Hat. Yummy yummy. More chika-han. 

I left about 7pm, had to go to the MOA signing, my club's sisterhood partnership with RC Diliman North of RI D3780, near Pantranco, Quezon City.

Thanks for the endless good camaraderie, classmates. Thanks for organizing the get together, classmate Rose Acoba. Thanks for the nice food, Gov. Butch.

It's unfortunate that two of our classmates in the District have already joined our creator. Emil Sanglay and Lorenz Tato. Lorenz died only last month of a heart attack.

One more reason why I join reunion with various friends whenever my time would allow. We don't know who will be gone next.

Club Relief Operations After the Manila Flooding

Our Rotary Club of Taguig Fort Bonifacio (RI District 3830), through the efforts of President Rose Antonio, partnered with RC Makati President Reuben Valerio, in distributing food items to victims of flooding in Lower Bicutan, Taguig City, last Friday, August 10.

From left: RC Makati President Reuben Valerio, clubmate Carmen Penalosa, Rose's son, President Rose, me, clubmate Eric Lucero, and Past District Governor (PDG) Sid Garcia. Most of these photos are from President Rose's camera.

It was my first visit to the RC Makati building actually and I was impressed. Nice, clean building, with a good garden and wide parking lot at the back. It is located in Camia Street, Barangay Guadalope Viejo, Makati. At the back of Metro Club in Rockwell, and just beside the Barangay Hall and Health Center. The tall buildings of Rockwell Center behind the parking lot are not far.

Had a short chat with President Reuben. He said that for their club, money was not a problem as they received lots of cash donations from club members, also from their brother clubs abroad. District Governor-Elect (DGE) Robert Kuan for instance, who is also one of their clubmates, eceived a call from his classmate DGE from an RI District in Taiwan and asked how things are in the country. His classmate simply donated $5,000 just for the relief-donations. Cool.

There were four of us from our club, plus President Rose's son and driver. This is her pick up, full of food items for distribution. Eric's car is nice here, small but full of items for donation. I hitched a ride with him.

This is the small village in Lower Bicutan that we visited. The floodwater has not receded yet, two days after the heavy rains have stopped. Lower photo, these children are in danger of getting leptospirosis and other water-borne diseases as the water is muddy and dirty.

Picture taking before the actual distribution of relief items.

A short but orderly line of people, mostly mothers, came in front of the pick up. No disorder, people just lined up, got the food packages, and walked away.

The Barangay Health Worker (BHW), a city hall employee assigned to barangays to provide health and sanitation programs and services, estimated that there were less than 100 households in this area. The food packages we brought were just enough for them. Plus extra food packages for other affected families outside of this small village, delivered at the BHW office.

We were done distributing the goods in about 20 minutes. Thanks to my club, thanks to Rotary Club of Makati. We have done our small share in helping the flood affected families.

Our District 3830 through the untiring efforts of District Governor Sue Sta. Maria, also conducted various relief and charity work in other parts of Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. Before the new round of heavy rains last Wednesday afternoon, I delivered some used clothes and shoes to the District drop off point in Crown Tower, HV dela Costa, Makati.

On Servant Leadership, PDG Sonny Coloma

Our mother club (they chartered the creation of our club in March 2000), RC Rizal West, through their Peace President Elsa, invited us to their first meeting of the current RY last July 05, 2012, Thursday night, Makati Sports Club. The main speaker was Past District Governor (PDG) Sonny Coloma. Gov. Sonny is also working now at the Office of the President in Malacanang, the 2nd or 3rd time he joined government. His main job is being a professor of management at the AIM.

I am a big fan of Gov. Sonny, along with many other PDGs of our district, like Jimmy Cura, Rafael "Butch" Francisco, my Governor in RY 2006-07, Ed Alvarez, many others. Gov Sonny is a soft-spoken, good humored, articulate speaker. In one of his talks several years ago, he called me as among his favorite bloggers. He was kidding of course.

   

He was introduced by Gov. Jimmy Cura, That night, Gov. Sonny talked about servant leadership, the characteristics of a good, listening, leader. Among the nice quotes I heard from him: 

 * Listening, the reason why we have two ears and one mouth, is so that we can hear and listen more, before we speak. 

* Healing, letting go of the past, or mending ways, offer a hand or ear of healing past conflict and misunderstanding. 

* Empathy, consideration. 

* Many others. 

I also like his description of Fort Bonifacio (that's where our club is based) -- "Fort Bonifacio is an island of Taguig surrounded by Makati" -- haha, so true

.

Lower right photo, that's me, after I gave a few comments during the open forum :-) Not a question, I said that I like Gov Sonny's talk especially on listening. I remember what my friend said, "Talk is cheap because the supply is larger than the demand." I don't remember now the second comment I made....

District Training on Membership Development, Public Relations

Our Club President, Rose Antonio, posted this today in our club facebook group. She attended the District (RI D3830) training on Membership Development and Public Relations yesterday held at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). I copy-pasted the photos and compressed them into four frames, below. Lots of good ideas to share.

Lower right photo below, my sister in the middle, Marycris Oplas, now the District Secretary, and President Rose.