Why I Remain a Rotarian

I have been asked by our new President Raffy for a short article on why I choose to remain a member of Rotary. When I joined the club over forty years ago, we had only two Rotary districts in the entire Philippines and we had the honor of having two Past District Governors in our club—PDG Dr. Nanding Manalo and PDG Tata “Sir” Ikong Reyes. To be a Rotarian was a real privilege back then, and still is to this day. We met at the old Pines Hotel around noon for a short social time before starting our meetings at exactly 12:30! If the President didn’t ring the bell on time, you would see Tata Ikong or one of the other past officers go over to remind him. We also finished right at 2:00, as many of our members had to return to work. The mining people were required to work six days a week and most of our others members returned to their places of work or to their profession Saturday afternoons. If our speaker was really interesting, we might extend the meeting for a short time but the President would notify the members and tell those that would like to leave, that they could do so at that time. We had a lot of fun during the Finest Moments where Tata Pinong Bueno would bring clippings from the Midland Courier of any of the Rotarians who had their picture or were mentioned for whatever reason and were fined for this honor. 

We attended many of the District functions together with our Anns. I especially remember flying to Naga City during my term as President in 1972 with a large group and in 1975 when we had over ten couples fly to Cebu for a joint conference; and we brought the house down with our Igorot dance while attired in appropriate G-strings and beating the ganzas. It seemed one of our members was having difficulty keeping his G-String from falling down! In 1978, I was asked to be the main speaker at a Rotary conference held at the Manila Hotel and spoke on Membership Development in front of over 600 Rotarians. I still have the beautiful Rotary wheel plaque displayed above my bar; of which I am particularly proud. 

I was able to maintain 100% attendance for the first ten years of my membership, even though I made up in over 12 countries while flying around the world with my family in 1968 and again in 1974. I also always made up during our trips back to my home in the States. Unfortunately I started having medical problems and underwent my first heart quadruple bypass in 1983. This was a “walk in the park” compared to my second one in the year 2000. During this one, I had another quadruple bypass plus a main valve replaced in my aorta. I also had an endarterectomy which ended my singing career. It seems after they cleaned my carotid artery, it formed an aneurysm which burst just as I was waking up from the operation. This caused the doctors to put in many more stitches and gave me a stiff neck. I said that I should sue the doctor, like Julie Andrews did; but someone said “You couldn’t sing in the first place.” I sure miss being able to sing with the Jack/Al duet and all the Tagalog songs that I love. Of course with a few beers or a little wine, I can still hit some notes. 

“You couldn’t sing in the first place.”

I also remember when the topic of admitting ladies into the club was discussed. It was my view that we older members had already had our time and that if the newer Rotarians wanted to accept the ladies, then it was alright with me. It sure proved them right, as we have had two—PP Veeh and PP Linda, as very successful presidents and many more promising ladies in the club now to help lead in the future. 

I can’t close without giving due recognition to all the doctors and others who have contributed to the success of our various programs and projects which has made our club so outstanding and which also makes me proud to still be a member of the Rotary Club of Baguio. I look forward to a great year under the stewardship of Raffy and all the other knowledgeable members. Don’t forget us old Rotarians and I hope to be able to attend many more of our meetings in the future. Mabuhay to all!