Ang Magiting - The Official Web Site of Rotary Club Makati North

Visit to Taipei

I just returned Tuesday afternoon from a five-day working trip to Taiwan, where I hooked up with our friends from the Rotary Club of Taipei Northeast. Many of you probably remember that we met some members of this Taipei club last year in Singapore, during the installation of the officers of our sister club, the Rotary Club of Raffles City. Some of you also probably remember that President Joe Reaño visited this Taipei club – but no one was able to join him, as many were frightened off by a typhoon. (Apparently our guys forgot that Joe is an indoor person, a nocturnal one at that.)

In any case, I was able to squeeze in two encounters with Rotarians in Taipei – first to attend a weekly lunch meeting, which reminded me of more traditional clubs that sing during meetings. The second time was for lunch that they had generously hosted, led by my “classmate,” President Elter and Vice President Tseng Han-Lin and 10 others.

I invited them to attend our induction in July, and a few of them said they would come to Manila. Later on, we hope to establish a sisterhood arrangement with the RC Taipei Northeast, a 70-member club that includes a former district governor. Besides Raffles City, they have at least two sister clubs in Japan and, if I understood correctly, another one in Malaysia.

The members of RC Taipei Northeast are a good bunch of guys – a mix of young and old; many are business owners and executives (one is even a Taipei city councilor); and perhaps important to some of our members – many of them are also golfers. They are fun-loving and hospitable.

You might also be interested to know that some of the government officials I talked to in Taiwan said they have a positive impression of Rotarians there, and they were two types of comments. One was that the Rotarians are well off, mainly business owners. Second was that they haven’t done anything bad or controversial.

I had to bite my tongue about a small of Rotarians in the Philippines who have negatively impacted the image of Rotary. I don’t mean to judge other people – only to point out a characteristic of our new friends in Taiwan. But don’t take my word for it. Hopefully, you’ll see for yourselves in June.

Extended Rotary family

Speaking of making new friends in Rotary, those attending today’s meeting will also have an opportunity to meet Rotarians from other clubs in our district, as we host a joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Parañaque South. As most of you know, that is the home club of our district governor, Boyet Limon.

Please join me later – as you always do – in welcoming our guests and other visitors who are to attend today. At the sunset of my tenure, I am just beginning to appreciate the fellowship that extends beyond our own membership roster, that we are part of much bigger family than I had realized.

And today, that family is convened, not just for fellowship but also for the worthy cause of fighting illegal drugs in the Philippines. We have a distinguished guest, who will brief us on the scope of the problem. And hopefully with our new friends, we can build a stronger bond by working together to make a dent on this public menace.