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

The Past, Present and the Future

By: Dir. Vic Magdaraog
July 1, 2009

The day seemed ominous for the club. It was the first official meeting led by RY2009-2010 President Vic Austria and the first time in ages since we saw a really wide grin from now Past President Klink Ang. What was more significant was the presence of 13 (yup…0ne-three) past presidents! PDG Ato Magadia also presented an unprecedented move to establish a more stable succession plan for the club presidency. This was not enough. PP Gus Lagman talked about a potential US$300,000.00 project. A smooth leadership transition, impact of the presence of the past presidents, a 5 year leadership succession plan, and a potentially large project. Oh and by the way, it was also one of the rare occasions that we had a really good meal. What could be more ominous that these for the success of Pres. Vic Austria’s term!

“I am here to have fun” thus Pres. Vic Austria declares in his opening remarks. Given that wine was free-flowing, it was easy for all the other members to echo that line. Dir. Archie Reano, moderated today’s meeting. Much. much better than PP Joe Reano could. Dir. Joey Diokno read the invocation and led the singing of the national anthem. As is usual in the club, our visitor was given special recognition. Today’s visitor was Michael Kjellin from the Asian Development Bank, he was Rtn. Daniel Wiedmer’s guest. The meeting then proceeded to normal business matters.

What could be more normal than an excellent round of golf? Well for this club it’s one of those things. PP ( I am sure he likes the sound of his new title) Klink announced that he would like to prove to the rest of the members that he actually plays golf better than most, so he invited the members to another game at the South Forbes golf course. he promised not to lose any more golf balls.

President Vic Austria, could not hold back any longer, and he quickly grabbed the microphone and started his first “President’s Time”. First order of business was to finalize this year’s induction (or installation) of officers and club directors. Unfortunately, it looks like the AH1N1 flu situation in the country scared our foreign sister club members from visiting the Philippines. We will surely miss their camaraderie and presence. Since they are not attending, Pres. Vic decided to do away with the traditional performance, but instead he will introduce WMD to the induction. Nope not the ones made famous by Bush and Chenney, but rather ,,,fine Wine, good Meal and fun Dancing!

As proof of his “Fun” term, he asked everyone to stand up and extend a fun greeting to everybody else in the room. Pres. Vic announced that the “Greeting Time” will be a regular part of the club meeting. Immediately after the noise and laughter died down, Pres. Vic announced the new organizational set-up, reminded all the members to pay their annual dues and continue to solicit sponsorships to the souvenir program.

PDG Ato Magadia was asked to present the Club’s succession plan and he announced the acceptance of the following members to serve a Club President:
RY2010-2011 – Rtn. Mac Mclean
RY2011-2012 – Rtn. Sal Lacson
RY2012-2013 – Rtn. Larry Bortles
RY2013-2014 – Rtn. Emilio Zulberti
RY2014-2015 – Rtn. Vic Magdaraog
He added that to his knowledge, this is the first time that a Rotary Club made this decision. Director George Mercado has also signified his interest to lead the club and will mostly likely be nominated for RY2015-2016.

This announcement was made more significant by the fact that this was approved by the past presidents and to show their support 13 of them were present in today’s meeting. In no particular order, they were: PDG Ato Magadia and PPs Boy Ampil, Kling Ang, Dieter Brueckner, Tony Chong, Ric Dela Torre, Toti Herbosa, Porong Herrera, Gus Lagman, Bert Lingad, Ed Mijares, Roger Nicandro and Chet Tan.

So there you have it….The past presidents, the present president and the future presidents…an omen of good things to come for the club.