PETS and Gawad Kalinga with President Elect, Celly Adamo

The trip to the Philippines from Mar 13 to Mar 30 were for dual purpose; one to attend the President Elect’s Training Seminar (PETS) sponsored by District 3780 and the other is to bring donations to the Villasis Gawad Kalinga Namnama Village. PETS are held in every Rotary district throughout the world and Rotary International now requires all Presidents Elect to attend PETS in order to serve as president of their respective Rotary club. Trainings are designed to provide essential and current information to incoming club presidents in order to prepare them to have an effective and successful year. Following the letter and spirit of The Manual of Procedure, District Governors Elect are involved in planning and conducting PETS. For some District Governors Elect this weekend provides the first opportunity for them to get acquainted with those club presidents with whom they will be working during their Rotary year and in their respective leadership roles.

It was quite an experience to attend District 3780 training, on March 14th and 15th at Tagaytay City which is about 75 km (45 miles) south of Quezon City/Metro Manila. After a group photo of all the PETS participants with the District Governor Elect, Rey David (see below),

the current District 3780 Governor, Sammy Pagdilao, called the meeting to order and after delivering his message turned over the proceedings to District Governor Elect, Rey David. Can you pick me out. Here's a hint:

At the two day events, we had the opportunity to hear addresses by top Philippine Rotary leaders, attend a small group discussion sessions lead by knowledgeable and experienced discussion leaders, and network and exchange ideas with presidents elect from other clubs. After the session on Saturday, the group attended a mass. Fellowship dinner and dance, country style followed. The incoming District Governor, Rey David, was serenaded by the current Best Class Presidents led by the current District Governor Sammy Pagdilao, followed by a serenade of the incoming World Class Presidents. The night festivities continued and ended with energetic dancing. Sunday program sessions started with an emotional Rotary moment presentation of Coeli Fiel, recounting her experience in Ormoc when typhoon Yolanda hit her beloved city. It was such a moving experience that she had most of us in tears. She summed up quite eloquently how she became a true Rotarian because of the help she experienced not only with district 3780, but other Rotary clubs from around the world. Her presentation was so moving that I hope to have that in a future program for our club. Succeeding sessions covered Foundation Grants, and Planning for the coming year. The day culminated with “Master’s Degree” graduation of the attending President Elects, complete with Toga for the graduating class. These two days were a remarkable experience overall. The following week, I visited the Gawad Kalinga Village in Villasis Pangasinan. I took with me donations to complete the last home in the Village, named Namnama (hope) scheduled for completion in July. I stayed at the beautiful home of Pete and Sol Montilla who donated the land used to build the homes. The village has rice paddies and Tilapia Fisheries for sustenance. It was great to meet the people who are staying in the completed homes. I was able to sit in on the interview of a prospective owner of the remaining home being built. Before a family is allowed to occupy the house, they have to invest sweat equity of 500 hours in building the home and had to complete value education. The following night, I attended the Rotary Club of Urdaneta, the home club of Sol Montilla, and evidently the mother club of a few of the surrounding Rotary clubs. I was also grateful and honored that Mai Ocampo, the incoming District Governor of 3790, and the Mayor of neighboring city Laoac, Silverio Alarcio, Ernie’s cousin, was gracious enough to take time from their busy schedule to come and visit the club to meet me. The club members sang to welcome us. I gave a short talk on what a Rotary e-club is all about and discussed the pros and cons of an e-club. It was a wonderful meeting with an enjoyable meal served by “The Flying Fish Restaurant.” In addition to our district 3780, we hope to continue our relationship with Gawad Kalinga, the Rotary Club in Urdaneta and District 3790. I didn’t get to meet Andrew Rimando and Vic Canono, two of our charter members, but we hope to have a satellite club with them in this area. I am looking forward to working with the club members the many opportunities we can explore, not only for the coming year but in years to come.