ARC partners with Rotary Club to save children from TB

MANILA, Philippines - He did not know it at the time, but when the car of RC Cola head Gerry Garcia was rear-ended somewhere in Antipolo some five years ago, it set off a chain of opportunities that would eventually help make a difference in the lives of Aeta schoolchildren.

Garcia, then already chief operating officer of ARC or Asiawide Refreshments Corporation (the local manufacturer of RC Cola), was on the road with his district manager when his car got hit from behind.

As Garcia and the other party stepped out of their cars, he was pleasantly shocked to discover that it was his old friend and colleague Gary Ting who had bumped into them. “We realized it was not an accidental meeting,” says Garcia.

Since that fateful encounter, the two have reconnected and Ting, who is the chapter president of the Rotary Club of Pag-Asa, made a proposition to Garcia that would help alleviate the condition of an Aeta mountain community in Morong, Bataan.

According to Rotary Club of Pag-Asa president Joe Montenegro, the engagement of the club began with regular literacy and feeding programs for the school kids of Kanawan Elementary School. Soon after, their group discovered that aside from malnutrition, a significant part of the population was also stricken with tuberculosis.

The providential accident brought the plight of the Aetas to the attention of Garcia. The RC Cola executive found himself putting together a benefit fund right out of his own pocket and deep within ARC’s budget to help bring healing to the afflicted Aetas in Kanawan.

In Kanawan Elementary School, the Rotary Club of Pag-Asa monitored about 160 students from Grades 1 to 6 for pulmonary problems. To encourage their efforts, QC Congresswoman Bernadette Herrera (recently conferred the Honorary Rotarian title for her invaluable support to the club) provided the Rotarians a mobile X-ray machine and a team of medical experts.

They had 110 young patients, 68 of whom were diagnosed with tuberculosis. Plans for treatment and solicitation were soon made and Aeta children who tested TB-positive started to receive medicines from RC Cola for a full treatment period.

Today, officers of the Rotary Club of Pag-Asa are happy to note that 12 of the TB cases have since been cured while a few others are still undergoing the clearing of lung lesions. The group envisions TB eradication in Kanawan by 2013.

Montenegro also credits the Pag-Asa chapter’s own success, saying, “Without the support of RC Cola, our plans would not have been made into reality. They were a big help to us. We would not have had the resources to push for total TB eradication in the community if not for their assistance.”

Last January, RC Cola donated P100,000 to Pag-Asa Rotarians to serve as seed money for some of the group’s community projects. Tricycles used to deliver cases of RC Cola to customers were also provided to give Aeta students a lift to and from school.

Along with RC Cola senior manager for marketing Riza Alfonso, who opted to become a member of the Rotary Club of Pag-Asa, Garcia considers the service a personal commitment.

Outsiders may think of Rotary Club as an organization that concerns itself with business and profit. While it is an organization of businessmen and women, its officers and members have been using their own resources and prominence to engage in worthwhile civic projects, in the interest of “Service above Self.”