"We will Make Dreams Real by giving children hope and
a chance at a future."

Good Afternoon. Fellow Rotarians!

I am happy to be back from my training at the Rotary Int’l Assembly in San Diego . I wish I could describe to you in details the overwhelming experience I had but it might take us more than a week to finish my recollections.  But, we have prepared a short slide presentation so you can have a feel of that beautiful adventure in San Diego.

Just like you, I had butterflies in my tummy, what with the anxiety and apprehension mixed with eagerness and excitement to experience what my predecessors termed as a “life-changing experience”.

In San Diego , I met all my DGE classmates representing 530 districts and 1.2 million Rotarians from more than 200 countries.   There, I realized the magnitude of Rotary and saw Rotarians in motion through the many presentations by great speakers from Rotary.  I also learned a lot of new things about Rotary and how they have improved the lives of others.  We went thru 2 plenary sessions a day and discussed live cases about Rotary situations.   During the day, we had sessions on such topics as the RI Theme, Membership Development, Building Strong Clubs, Grants & Stewardship, Community Needs Assessment, Rotary’s Commitment to Youth, Public Image & Leadership and lastly, our plan for success.  Yes, were made to draw a grand plan for success.   Evenings were reserved for fellowships. We were given tons of materials. Yes, plenty of them. `The speakers were outstanding and many were RI Past Presidents.

In between, we had to practice for our dance number, a medley of native Filipino dance music.  We were very proud of the fact that our group was selected to present, and mind you, only 10 countries (out of 200) were asked to do so.  So we had no choice but to prepare well.   The Presence of RI PP Mat Caparas ensured that we do a good job.  He was present in most of our practices. There were 10 districts in the whole Phils and I'm proud to tell you that I was elected as the Chairman of these 10 districts. We also signed a MOA to do common projects that will benefit the country. This is of course related to the environment, my emphasis.

It was during the assembly that our RI Pres DK Lee asked us to focus on "child mortality."  He said that 30,000 children under the age of 5 die every day from preventable causes.  Yes, children die needlessly of  pneumonia, measles and malaria – for lack of basic medicines, vaccines, and mosquito nets.  They die of  diarrheal illneses – for lack of a packet rehydration salts that cost 10 cents.   They die in thousands every day, because they only have dirty water for washing and drinking.  They die because their needs are not met in the areas of water, health, hunger and literacy.

For 2008-09, Pres DK Lee is asking us to focus our efforts in each of these areas on children and on reducing the terrible rate of child mortality in our own communities.  He is asking us to Make Dreams Real for the world’s children.  This is our theme and Pres DK’s challenge to all of us. We will Make Dreams Real by giving children hope and a chance at a future.

So my dear PEs, do we accept the challenge?  And by so doing we need to prepare well my friends and you are well prepared.  By today, you would have gone thru your third Pre-PETS.  And, by next month, we shall have 3 days of PETS.

Today we are giving you the Presidents Manual.  I ask that you read them well to better appreciate what we will do during PETS.  By the way, PETS is a requirements of RI without which you can’t become your club’s president. Don’t worry, while we will work hard, we will have fun as well.  I’d like to thank the 3 clubs who will help manage this PETS, namely, RC Makati Dasmarinas (in charge for fellowship), RC Makati Bel-Air (for programs) and RC Parañque South (for administration).  Please bring some shorts or jogging pants for we will start the day at 6am with some physical execises. We will ensure that you are wide awake during the sessions.   As they say, sound mind and sound body.  The other details will be explained to you by DS Rene Aguirre.

I also thank most of you for having attended the midyear review.  It is something that you yourselves will have to do several months from now. Pretty soon, you will have to present your club’s achievements, hopefully many, meaningful and fruitful.  I hope you learned a lot from that experience.

This afternoon we will discuss PR (by SAG Chochit Tobias & PP Cory Quirino), Membership development (by a dear friend, Ed Alvarez) and Rotary Foundation (by my classmate, PDG Tony).  But let me dwell on Membership and Rotary Foundation for a few minutes.  You know, when I was being interviewed by the DNC, one of the questions asked me was (and if I remember it right, this question was asked by Gov Tony), "What would you do to keep and maintain our District 3830 as the premier district in the Philippines?"  While preparing this speech, I was asking myself another question, are we still the premier district in the Philippines?  It’s sad to say that we are not.   For the past few years, we have lagged behind in terms of membership and contribution to the Rotary Foundation.  So there lies the challenge my dear PEs.  I'm asking you now to work hard to make our district the Premier District in the Philippines by bringing our membership target to 3,000 Rotarians by the end of our term.

By the way, I’d like to thank DG Ato for adding around 400 new members to our District. When he started, there were only 2,010 Rotarians in  our District, as of date I heard we’re about 2,400.

I’m also asking you now to gather all your energies and raise our TRF contribution per capita to $125/Rotarian.  This will translate to a target of $300,000.  With this, we can help a lot in eradicating polio, minimizing poverty, fund Rotary Peace scholars, fund our many community projects for the poor and impoverished, our commitment to the youth, and many more.

And who else will benefit from all these?  My friends, let me borrow from the beautiful speech of Past RI Pres. Bhichai Rattakul on "Who Needs Rotary?" and he said, "Ask the children around the world who have enough food to eat because Rotarians shared. Ask the young girls who are learning to read in Rotary sponsored schools or the boys who are developing a skill in Rotary vocational programs. Ask the thousands upon thousands of tsunami victims who had lost everything in an instant, and how Rotary came swiftly to their rescue, giving them hope for the future. Ask any of these people, and you will never have doubt who really needs Rotary."

Thus, my Dear PEs, I challenge all of you to return our District to its former glory.  I challenge you to make D3830 the Premier District of the land.  Yes, it’s doable.   For together nothing is impossible.  For together, we can MAKE DREAMS REAL.

And in closing,  my dear PEs, I ask that you go forth from here to serve to MAKE DREAMS REAL.  Go forth now to courageously lead, for you are shooting to win a prize higher than honor.  You are leading to win a fight to win the hearts of men.

Maraming Salamat po.