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

“Banking, Gardening and Faith”

This was “Ann’s Day” and just as well it was since Rotarians were thin on the ground. Many it seems had foregone the weekly meeting in order to listen to what was happening in the Senate. We were competing for attention with former Economic Planning Secretary, Romulo Neri who was supposedly spilling the beans on former Commissioner Abalos in the Senate.

Despite the thin attendance, it was an interesting meeting ably moderated by Tess Lagman and her team (but where were you Gus?).

President Joe introduced the Anns attending and noted that it was the wedding anniversary of Chona and Peny Reloza. PP Jonny Carlos, chairman of the gift giving committee reminded the group of our promise to give 33 Paul Harris fellows and President Joe invited all to a special night in late October where he would do the cooking for the evening. October 31 was the intended date but many in the gathering thought that All Hallows Eve might not be the most opportune time and it was agreed to revisit this date.

Ann Christine Marco introduced our guest speaker, Mrs. Flor Gozon Tarriela, a banker (a former VP of Citibank and the first woman chair of the Philippines National Bank), former undersecretary of Finance who is a firm believer that the word “retired” should really be written as “re-tired” because once life in the formal sector ends, we have new opportunities to work and to grow drawing on our life experience.

The chosen topic for the day was “Banking, Gardening and Faith”. Three co-related themes that summed up the passion of our speaker. The first part of her presentation dealt with her career in banking and in particular the recent performance of PNB of which she was justifiably proud.

But it was to the second them, that of gardening, where her passion and love for life really came to the fore. “No Filipino should be hungry” was the message and (echoing similar sentiments from an earlier speaker from the Nutrition Council) that many weeds and ordinary common wild plants have nutritional and therapeutic value if only we can learn how to harvest them.

Edible weeds include Talinum (rich in Vitamin C), Blue Rarnate and Wid Pipino all of which can be used in salads and other dishes.

Healing weeds include Boto botonisan (Dengue), Takipkuhol (herb of longevity and memory), Ikmo (cures aches and pains), Pancit Pancitan (arthritis) and Damong Maria (heals cuts and bruises).

Our speaker Mrs. Flor Gozon Tarriela suggested that by shifting to organic vegetables we would lead much healthier lives and that instead of throwing organic waste away we should reduce our trash by turning to composting (admittedly a bit difficult in an 11th floor apartment).

Her final theme was that of faith. Gardening can be good therapy for the body and the mind. Gardening is growth centered in the same manner as we tend our gardens so do we also need to tend our minds and our spiritual self. The gift plants we took away from that meeting provide a daily reminder of this truth.