Formidable Rotary territory

This year 2011 is another banner year for the Rotary movement in Quezon City (QC). It marks the 25th year that Quezon City has been constituted as a Rotary District by itself  the only “one district, one city” in the Rotary world. This rare distinction is the clearest sign and best proof that many people in QC believe and practice the Rotary creed of truth, fairness, friendship and goodwill, and have embraced or benefitted from Rotary’s ideal of “service above self”.

Actually, a Rotary District (RD) is a specific geographical area linking together several Rotary Clubs (RC) located therein for administrative purposes and for purposes of assisting said clubs and the Rotarians in carrying out and achieving the objects of Rotary to provide humanitarian service, to encourage high ethical standards in all profession or vocation; and to help build goodwill and peace in the world.

Usually a city is but part of an RD where other cities or provinces are included. In fact QC was but part of the original RD 380 comprising the whole of Luzon and Palawan when the first club therein aptly named as the Rotary Club of Quezon City (RCQC) with 41 charter members headed by Ceferino Picache as Charter President, was chartered on April 28, 1960 by the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM), the first Rotary club in the country and in Asia.

The original Rotary International (RI) District 380 was composed of 29 clubs and its first District Governor (DG) was Atty. Mat Caparas of RC Caloocan who later on became the first and only RI President from the Philippines. In Rotary Year (RY) 1968-69, Ceferino Picache of RCQC was elected DG of RD 380, the first one coming from RCQC. He was later followed by Marcos Heras also of RCQC, in RY 1972-1973.

In RY 1976-1977, RD 380 was divided into two with the creation of RD 382 to cover all clubs south of Pasig River, including Manila. The original RD 380 retained jurisdiction over all clubs north of Pasig River, including QC. Under the leadership of then DG Mar Un Ocampo, the remaining RD 380 was further subdivided as the northwestern provinces from Pampanga to Ilocos Norte became RD 379, while RD 380 was made up of Metro Manila north of Pasig River and the northeastern provinces from Bulacan to Batanes. After this latest re-districting, or in RY 1980-81, Jose Agaton “Tony Sibal became the third DG of RD 380 who came from RCQC. He was followed by DG Fernando “Nanding” Pedrosa of RC Cubao in RY 1985-1986 and DG Prospero “Pros” Crescini in 1986-1987.

Sometime in 1985, the DG of RD 380 saw the need of regrouping the clubs in the district to ensure a steady and well balanced Rotary growth. So he submitted a proposal for the further subdivision of RD 380 into three districts. A ballot by mail was subsequently conducted in August 1985 to determine the stand of the clubs about the proposed regrouping. After a majority of the clubs supported the proposal, a recommendation was submitted to R.I. for the regrouping of the clubs into three districts. Thus effective July 1, 1987, pursuant to the provisions of the RI By-Laws, the clubs in RD 380 were regrouped into three districts, namely R D 380 that covered all clubs of Metro Manila north of Pasig River except QC; RD 377 that included the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Isabela, Kalinga, Quirino, Cagayan and Batanes; and RD 378 for QC making it “one city, one district of R.I. At that time,the President of the Rotary International was a Filipino, Atty. Matt Caparas of the RC of Caloocan, while Past District Governor Tony Sibal was a member of the Council on Legislation.

The first DG of RD378 was Jesus M. Laxamana of RC New Manila (1987-1988) followed by Antonio Pascual of RC San Francisco del Monte (1988-1989) and Ernesto B. Manalac of RCQC (1989-1990) during whose term the district was re-numbered into RI District 3780.

With the re-numbering of the District from 378 to 3780 in 1989, the number of clubs in QC significantly increased through the years. To date, there are 94 clubs in District 3780 as 20 more District Governors took over the helm from 1990-91 up to 2010-2011. They were: JL Pete Morales of RC San Francisco del Monte; Armando Gonzales, RC Sto Domingo; Melito Salazar, RC Diliman; Mario Nery, RC New Manila Heights; Oscar Innocentes RC Uptown Cubao; Efren Lim, RC Cubao East; Manuel Monroy RC San Francisco del Monte; Gil Divinagracia, RC Balintawak; Nemesio Peralta, RC Diliman; Mojamito Libunao, RC Kamuning West; Hermogenes Jarin, RC Fairview; Danilo Reyes, RC Ayala Heights; Roberto Viray who served for two terms, RC Cubao West; George Howard, RC San Francisco del Monte; Benjamin Bacorro, RC Neopolitan Fairview; Danilo Espinosa, RC Biak na Bato; Danilo Fausto RC New Manila; Alexander Cureg, RC Diliman; Dulce Coyukiat, RC Kagitingan Cubao and Pablo Gancayco who ended his term yesterday, June 30, 2011.

The silver year of RI District 3780 will be ushered in by the induction into office of Mr. Jose Francisco “Jess” Cifra as District Governor for the year 2011-2012. It will be held this coming Sunday, on July 3, 2011, starting at 4 pm at Sofitel Philippine Plaza, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd. Pasay City. The venerable former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Past President of Rotary International, Bhichai Rattakul will be the guest of honor and speaker and will induct District Governor Elect Jess Cifra into office. The newly inducted DG Cifra will then install the “Silver” Presidents and District Officers with the District theme “Reach out and touch”.

Reaching the silver year as a single city RI District is really the moment every Rotarian in QC is waiting for, especially the DG, the District Officers and Club Presidents. But to ensure that Rotary’s vision and mission will be pursued and carried out through the years future DGs have also been selected. They are Rufino “Penny” Policarpio III of RC San Francisco del Monte, RY 2012-2013 and Francisco “Francis” Rivera of RC Timog for RY 2013-2014.

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