The Sanlakbay Program of the San Ildefonso Parish in Makati City has weaned another eight youths from drug dependency, that insidious habit that brings ruin to lives and families. The graduates are among 11 enrolled in the rescue and reformation program run by the parish. Sanlakbay is short for “Sanlakbay Para sa Pagbabagong Buhay” (Journey Toward a New Life); it is the Archdiocese of Manila’s program designed to rehabilitate and reform drug dependents and lead them toward a drugs-free, productive and peaceful life. It was the signature program of IPP Jun Jun Dayrit last year during his term as club president. IPP Jun Jun graced the graduation ceremony on August 15, together with PE Bimbo Mills and Dir. Chris Ferareza. The program began, fittingly, with Holy Mass celebrated by Fr. Antonio Molaven, S.D.B. Also present was Fr. Bobby de la Cruz, head of the Sanlakbay Program at Caritas Manila. Both priests delivered brief inspirational messages, as did IPP Jun Jun who spoke of how RC Makati became involved in the program (he heard Fr. Bobby talk about it on Radio Veritas, the Catholic radio station) and the Club’s contributions to the program—donations of a van, communications equipment, and tiles for a rehab center being built. Pres. Fred Pascual and PE Bimbo Mills are committed to carrying on with the program during their respective terms, this year and next, respectively.

THE Club has been going places lately. Last September 8, the Books Across the Seas (BATS) Project continued its 2018-2019 run in Dingalan, Aurora where it donated books—530 titles—to the Matawe Elementary School. The donation was a joint activity of the Club and the Pangkat ng Kartunistang Mangaakyat (PangKaMa), an organization of mountaineers with a social service bent to which our CoS Ron Dotaro belongs. Ron, representing both the Club and Pangkama, handed over the books to Mr. Fortune Valdez, school principal. They also distributed school supplies and food packs to the school’s 300+ students. In July, the project distributed books to 12 schools and organizations, including four Rotary Clubs. More activities are planned in the months ahead, with the expected receipt of two container van-loads of books in November from the Pittsburgh-based Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF), our main source of books. At the instance of PDG Sid Garcia, we will soon be conducting a book fair for schools in Bulacan in partnership with District 3770 under DG Celso Cruz. The BATS Committee is chaired by Jolyon Tiglao, with Jay Savage acting as adviser. It belongs to the directorate of Community Service A under PE/Dir. Bimbo Mills. Started in 1988 during the incumbency of then President Gigi Zulueta, BATS is one of the Club’s longest-running projects and has distributed over 15M books to over 65,000 schools nationwide. It has a long-standing partnership with BBF, which has been supplying the books we give away since the project’s inception 30 years ago, and PNB (formerly Allied Bank), which has made available to us a huge warehouse in Novaliches where the books are stored and sorted out prior to release.

The Sto. Niño Integrated School in Tanay, Rizal is the latest beneficiary of our supplemental feeding program with the launch on September 17 of two modules covering 84 pupils. Tanay is one of a number of our partner communities for the project. With Chairman PP Freddie Borromeo at the launch were First Ann Menchu Pascual, Taba Samson and Ann Jojo Borromeo. The OVP was represented by Raffy Magno. Partnering with the Club for these modules are the Office of the Vice President’s Angat Buhay Program, our long-time partner Kabisig ng Kalahi under Executive Director Vicky Wieneke, and the municipality of Tanay, represented by Mayor Rex Manuel Tanjuatco. This is the second launch for the feeding program this Rotary year. The first was about two weeks earlier, on September 5, in Bay, Laguna. Tanay is one of a few partner communities the Club has been working with on a regular basis. Our last collaboration with them on feeding was for two modules, where 60 undernourished children were placed under a daily feeding program that ran from April through October 2017. After Ms. Wieneke gave an overview of the program, PP Freddie delivered a message that began with a commendation of the teachers for the cleanliness of the school and went on to explain the ill effects of malnutrition, and to introduce the parents to Rotary, zeroing in on its global anti-polio campaign. For her part, First Ann Menchu, noting the abundance of flora in the school, expressed appreciation of the place and the cleanliness of the oxygen-rich atmosphere and reiterated the importance of healthy food to brain development among children, even naming certain foods—squash, papaya, cassava, carrots—and their specific benefits. Mr. Magno expressed thanks to the Club for its work, specifically, the feeding program, which aims to prevent the onset of mental retardation, or nip it in the bud, with nutrition. Finally, Mayor Tanjuatco thanked VP Leni Robredo and her Angat Buhay and the Club for their work in communities that need help. PP Freddie & Ann Jojo hosted lunch at The Gatherings Café in Tanay.

All roads led to Porac, Pampanga on the 20th of September as Rotarians from District 3830 motored to the Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University to kick off a project that would bring them together in one community –Usbong Katutubo Rotary Village. Representing the Club at the event were Pres. Fred Pascual, PP David & Mache Ackerman, PN Peter Manzano, and Ira Kiener, chairman of the day’s program. The significance of the event was underscored by the presence of D3830 Gov. Al Montecillo, D3790 Gov. Pancracio Nisce, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, and USec Allen Capuyan, Presidential Adviser for Indigenous People’s Concerns, among many others. The project calls for the development of a two-hectare property into a community for Aeta families with, initially, 27 lead clubs in D3830 committed to implement projects under the six areas of focus. Funding for the specific projects of the lead clubs will be provided by our Partnership in Service Program (PSP) to the tune of P2.7 million, assuming that all 27 clubs will be requiring the maximum grant of P100,000 per project. Other clubs in the district that will decide to sign up for the project later may apply for PSP grants as well. From that perspective, it is clear that RC Makati plays a critical role in the project. The Club manifested its seriousness in helping to push the project forward by giving away 1,000 pairs of slippers to the Aetas, a donation from Taba Samson. The projects to be implemented under the six areas of focus aim to build a self-sustaining community and include: Economic & Community Development—agritourism and corporate farming, meat processing, candle and soap making, design and crafting of ethnic jewelry, sewing, tailoring and welding; Basic Education & Literacy—building classrooms, setting up daycare centers, providing school materials, training of Aetas as teachers; Maternal and Child Health—establish a birthing center, licensing and operation of medical equipment, training of Aetas as midwives; Water & Sanitation—build toilets, one for every 3-4 households; Disease Prevention and Treatment—medical and dental missions, conduct workshops on health and disease prevention; and Peace and Conflict Prevention and Resolution—legal advice and orientation on the IPIRA law and other rights

ON the 5th of September, Pres. Fred & Menchu Pascual, PP Freddie & Jojo Borromeo, and Ferdie Ordoveza motored south of Manila, to Bay, Laguna, for a mid-week day of service. Bay is one of the project sites long served by our Club. Two activities had been programmed in coordination with our brother club, the Rotary Club of Bay, with whom we have collaborated on many humanitarian projects in the areas of health, nutrition, education and disaster relief. This time, we were covering three areas of focus: maternal and child health, with a supplemental feeding program; basic education and literacy, with a donation of bikes to poor students; and peace and conflict resolution and prevention, with a donation of bikes to local security forces. Supplemental Feeding We initiated two modules of our supplemental feeding program for a total of 60 undernourished children in two barangays in Bay—30 in Brgy. Puypuy and 30 in Brgy. Sto. Domingo. The launch took place at the Municipal Hall, with the beneficiaries and their parents in attendance. The first feeding projects for this year, the two modules bring to 132 the total number of modules and to nearly 4,000 the total number of kids covered by the program since PP Freddie started it in RY 2004-2005. It is also the second feeding project in Bay in the past year, with the last one launched in September 2017 during the term of IPP Jun Jun Dayrit. Per project design, feeding will go on every day for six months and will end in January 2019. As in the past, we are partnering with Kabisig ng Kalahi for the entire program and, for these particular modules, with RC Bay and the municipal government of Bay. In the program, Ms. Vicky Wieneke of Kabisig gave an overview of the project while PP Freddie impressed upon the parents the value of good nutrition especially for the young and how people can eat healthy without having to spend a lot of money. He spoke of brain foods and nutrients derived from vegetables, and made them understand what Rotary is doing for them—kick-starting a nutrition program that they themselves should continue after the prescribed 6-month feeding period. For his part, Pres. Fred Pascual emphasized the importance of organizations coming together for a good cause—in this case Rotary, Kabisig and the government—and the value of good nutrition in ensuring that every child has a fighting chance at doing well in school and later, in life. He also made the parents understand that Rotary help is not forever and that they need to help themselves by using the lessons they learned to their advantage and that of their children Bikes to School Project Partnering with RC Bay, we gave away 100 bicycles, the most we’ve ever given, to as many students from two high schools—Masaya National High School and Bitin National High School, and to the security force (tanods) of 15 barangays in Bay. The bikes donation to students is an RC Bay’s project that aims to stem the rising tide of school dropouts in the town. This was traced to poverty—the fact that many students often have no money for transportation, prompting absences which in turn constrains them to stop schooling altogether. In 2008, as fate would have it, PP Freddie Borromeo, offered the bikes to RC Bay Pres.Gary Hidalgo, who saw it as a godsend at a time when the incidence of school dropouts was on the rise. This led Pres. Garry to initiate SARDO—Students At Risk of Dropping Out, which RC Makati’s Bikes to School Project provided a perfect solution to. The donation to the barangays, on the other hand, makes possible better mobility for the members of the local security force. The bikes we give away are donated to us by the NPO Wind of Asia, a Japan-based organization, through Rtn. Masaaki Oshima, and the Bicycle Parking Facilities Provision Foundation. The project has been handled by our project chairman Hiro Oba since its inception in 2008.

TYPHOON Ompong, packing winds of over 200 kph, made landfall in Bicol on the 15th of September to wreak havoc over a 900-km area across northern and central Luzon with its weapons of destruction: rains without letup and whipping winds. By the time it was done, thousands of families had fled to evacuation centers, in need of food, clothing, medicine and sleeping stuff. Its worst toll: 78 dead in a landslide in the village of Ucab in Itogon, Benguet, not far from Baguio. The Disaster Relief team, headed by Chair Chris Ferareza and PE/Dir. Bimbo Mills, both old hands in disaster relief work, was in full alert at once. The committee quickly coordinated with RC Baguio Summer Capital through the connection of PDG Sid Garcia with PDG Oyan Villanueva who got us connected to the club president, Anton Baltazar. Losing no time, the two clubs went to work. The Club quickly activated its partnership arrangement with Puregold supermarket. Initiated by PDG Pepito Bengzon during his term as district governor of D3830, the Puregold connection worked to pack 500 hygiene kits containing soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, alcohol, toilet tissue and hand/face towels. The Club also ordered 500 blankets and received 700 pairs of sandals from Dir. George Barcelon. On September 20, Rtn. Drexx Laggui and CoS Ron Dotaro motored to Baguio where they met with the members of RCBSC and mapped out the relief ops in four evacuation/calamity sites – Tuding ITC, where most of the evacuees were housed, and three sites in Ucab - KKMI Church, RBCF Church and Lower Gomok RC Baguio Summer Capital Pres. Anton hosted dinner for the volunteers and the members of RCBSC hosted a fellowship dinner at the Baguio Country Club. While in Benguet, a request came in from Pres. Marlon Lapid of RC Vigan, a brother club of ours, for support in the relief ops in Brgy. Mindoro, a coastal barangay in Vigan which was battered by Ompong. The Club immediately dispatched P25K worth of relief goods, which the Vigan Rotarians distributed to 88 families on September 23. The relief ops for Ompong were in honor of PDG Robert Kuan who passed away on the very day the super typhoon struck. PDG Robert had actively supported schools and communities in Baguio through his gift-giving and substantial contributions to the Adiwang Elementary School, and as an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Vigan. Thanks are due to PDG Oyan for sponsoring Drexx’s accommodation at Venus Hotel in Baguio and to RC Makati Poblacion (led by Pres. Marites Di) for donating P15,000, which bought 75 bags of hygiene kits. The Club’s kind assistance to communities in Itogon and Vigan was made possible by the generous and timely donations from our members: cash donations of P220,000--PP Joe Alejandro, PP Felix Amparo, Felix Ang, Toffy Concepcion, Dir. Michael Escaler, Chris Ferareza, Vic Floresca, Sec. Eddie Galvez, Wilson Lim, Wash Lou, PN Peter Manzano, PE Bimbo Mills, Manny Padiernos, Johnny Sy, Johnson Tan; and 1,200 pairs of sandals from Dir. George Barcelon.

RC Makati joined hands with our two club-sponsored partners—the Rotaract Club of Makati (RAC Makati) and Rotary Community Corps Bukluran (RCC Bukluran) for an End Polio Walk through Camia and Amapola Streets on October 27.The activity aims to raise public awareness and knowledge of Rotary’s most sweeping health initiative: End Polio Now, RI’s global program to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. By happy coincidence, it was in the Club’s premises in Guadalupe Viejo, where our clubhouse currently stands, that the seed of Rotary’s polio program was sown in September 1979. This historic event took place when then RI Pres. James Bomar administered an oral polio vaccine to a Filipino boy during an immunization activity of the Club, effectively birthing the PolioPlus program. As the program progressed and gained more traction, effecting the eradication of the disease in one country after another, it eventually evolved into End Polio Now. This year’s End Polio activities constitute a push leading to next year’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the birth of the program. Today, only two nations stand in the way of total success for End Polio—Pakistan and Afghanistan. To inject fun to the occasion, the Club threw in a second activity, Trick or Treat for some 70 children in the Guadalupe Viejo neighborhood, under the guidance of RCC Bukluran. The Walk ended at the RCM Clubhouse grounds, where a brief program was held. IPP Jun Jun Dayrit spoke briefly about the End Polio Now campaign, from its inception 39 years ago to its dramatic progress through the years. Also in attendance was VP/Dir. Louie Aseoche. The children, properly costumed, enjoyed burgers from Jollibee and received loot bags with the usual treats: assorted candies. Adding more fun and excitement was a contest where four children won cash prizes for wearing the best costumes. Present were RAC Makati members Mark Gil Cato, president; Prame Cato, Rey Buyco, Jazel Villanueva, Rosanne Arado, Roi Cloma, Jamaica Isla, Daisylyn Paquiao; and RCC Bukluran members headed by their president, Frisco Guarin.