Governor's Message, DG Reggie Nolido

Protocol has been observed, good evening.

Now the truth can be told. In May 2022, I was still ambivalent about running for governor and in fact I was quite certain I was not going to. I was at peace with that, and therefore, it struck me like a bolt of lightning when I received a fateful call while driving with Sue Ann and my kids one Saturday afternoon. Gov Sid was on the line and he told me that the incoming board of directors of then incoming president Michael Escaler had decided, without my participation, that I should run for governor. I asked them why and they said that aside from being ready to serve the district, it would also be nice if I would be the governor to address the club when it celebrated its 60th Anniversary.

What followed then was a flurry of events. I was involved in a rather intense but mostly friendly election. I then spent the better part of two years undergoing training both locally and in places like Kaoshiung, Taipei and eventually Orlando, Florida. I painstakingly put together a crack team of district officers, many of whom are here, including our very own Louie Aseoche as District Secretary. I built and worked on establishing a close relationship with my Unite for Good Presidents, whom I now consider as family. The last 8 months was dedicated to attending hundreds of affairs, projects, conferences, and seminars, giving uniquely crafted speeches in each one. All told, for the last three years my every waking moment was mostly spent for rotary. All of that, for the privilege at this very moment to speak to you as the 7th district governor of the club, for, as the organizers have told me, a period of 5 minutes. I have 3 minutes left.

I love my club. The Rotary Club of Makati has been a very significant part of my life and I cannot imagine not being part of it. I am proud of my club. It is an example of true service to the communities it attends to and has left a lasting impression on the lives of the people it has touched. In the course of the preparations for this affair the word legacy had been used quite often and I am not surprised.

This club has been at the forefront of so many historic and significant moments. This club established the first post office in Makati, which ushered in the development of the city as the financial hub of the country. The club actually established and managed a mini mall called the Makati Rotary Foundation Arcade back in the 70s, which foreshadowed the entrepreneurial side of the club; later evidenced by the management of two industrial properties which to date funds the club’s various projects. The club was there when James Bomar administered the first drop of the polio vaccine with then sitting Governor Paing Hechanova as the prime mover. The club made its first contribution to the Rotary Foundation in 1972 and to date has given in excess of $2.79M, the highest in the District. There are 13 Arch Klumph Society members in the district and 6 of them were either members of or were facilitated by the club. In the global grant era, this club has sponsored 6 global grants with a total funding value of $551,282.00, for an average of $91,880.33 per grant, the highest in the district for those with global grants approved or closed of 5 or more. Then we are one of three clubs behind Rotary Homes which had been recognized as the best rotary project during the first 100 years of Rotary in the Philippines.

It does not stop there. All I need mention are the following project titles: Books Across the Seas, Partnership in Service Program, Anti-TB Campaign, PGH Surgical Missions, Teaching the Deaf to Speak, Heather Kinross, Stepping Stone, Last Angels, Villa Paraiso, Makati 3H Water Project, Save La Mesa Dam, Kabisig ng Kalahi and our Feeding Program. Then later, Sanlakbay, BGC Greenway, Rotary Dorms, Save the Reefs, Feed Back, Hatchd and now PHYLA and the AI Academy. To those who have been with the club for some time, these are not mere monickers but markers that stand as evidence that we have been vital cogs in nation building. Be proud of our club our dear members of the Rotary Club of Makati. Be proud of the stories we have engendered. Be proud of the legacy we have created. Truly we have left an indelible mark in the firmament of Philippine Rotary if not rotary world-wide.

But as I have said often in my speeches to the district, the prize of service, is more service. It is our lot in life that we have chosen to be in a constant state of action because the problems of this world never ceases. We stand at the ready, inasmuch as, at any given time, we may be called to respond. Given that, I am asking all the members of the Rotary Club of Makati to please rise. I ask you to place you right hand over your heart and repeat after me:

“I re-commit myself to my club, the Rotary Club of Makati. I shall live a life of service above self. I shall be guided by the four-way test. I shall be a force for good. I shall be a conduit for change. I will, now and forever, be a Rotarian.”

Ladies and gentlemen I give you the dedicated, hard-working and selfless members of the rotary club of makati, your partners in service to our country; and, I still maintain is the most humble club in the district. My time is up. Let us all unite for good, thank you and good evening.