M.A.T. Caparas, PRIP 1986-87
Rotary Club of Caloocan, D.3800
"Rotary Brings Hope"
Fellow Rotarians and Friends in RCC,
Thank you for being here, and for wanting to promote and advance the Rotary Community Corps program. As you know, this Road show is a special event called by all the District Governors with the support of the Philippine College of Rotary Governors and the active participation of the RVC Foundation. They want the Roadshow to commemorate also the silver anniversary of RCC as an official program of Rotary International. As one with much personal interest and connection with RCC, I thank you cordially. I also thank all those who put this admirable Roadshow together, especially Past Governor Guiller Tumangan who, I know, has been working at it for many months.
I want to give special thanks to a friend I admire, a very distinguished gentleman who honors this gathering with his presence. He is no less than the President-Elect of Rotary International. Sakuji Tanaka San and his dear lady, Kyoko, have come from Evanston in friendship to the country and its people and to all Rotarians. They give great distinction to this affair, and I am with you in thanking them and giving them a most hearty welcome. Let us all be sure to make their stay joyful and pleasant.
I see the program for this Roadshow to be very good, and knowledgeable Rotarians will be conducting it. As a senior Rotarian, I feel the little I can contribute would best be historical, preferably related to the observance of the silver anniversary of RVC, or RCC. Indeed, convincing enlightenment about the origin of the program seems sorely needed.
The RVC program is the refined version of a program that many Rotary clubs had when I was President-elect preparing for office. Called Adopt a Barrio, it consisted mainly in the club giving to the barrio folks things they needed and could not get without giving up something equally important. It was humanitarian and heart-warming, but I saw that much of what the village received quickly disappeared for lack of care. I felt the help that the club was giving would last longer if there were an organization in the village to take care of it. I shared that thought with the Rotary Club of Manila, and I know they started to act on it.
I visualized that non-Rotarian group, which even then I called Rotary Village Corps, to be assistants of the club in the extension of help to the village. In the far-away villages which Rotarians have difficulty visiting more than once, the RVC would do what the Rotarians could not. It would give needed hands and feet to Rotary. It would actually do Rotary work without being a Rotary club. It was in fact thoughts of that kind of RVC work that called to my mind the theme "Rotary Brings Hope".
When I broached the idea to the board, some opposed it, saying it would apply only to developing countries. I said it would apply to the inner cities of the wealthiest nations; that there was no rule that excluded a program that did not apply to the whole world; and that the population of the developing countries, to which RVC would apply, outnumbered the rest of the world, anyway. Other opponents said RVC looked like a poor man’s Rotary club. I said it was not, but that in areas where it would operate, it would do a better job than Rotary clubs. I was sure in any case that my board, the one I would preside over the next year, would adopt the program, and a budget for its launch was adopted.
The group we adopted carried the Rotary name because, unlike Interact and Rotaract, from which Rotary just hoped to get new members, the RVC would operate as assistant to Rotary clubs. And because there was much dispute about women in Rotary at the time, I made clear that RVC would have men and women members. I hoped membership of women in this partner in service that carried the Rotary name would be a big step to admission in Rotary.
As approved, RVC was a pilot program that would be reviewed after three years. At the next Council on Legislation, however, Roberto Valentin of Puerto Rico, Frank Devlyn of Mexico, and Rajah Saboo of India succeeded in including attendance at an RVC meeting as a valid make-up for absence from a Rotary meeting. With that mention of RVC in the by-laws, the board considered its pilot status terminated. But even before then, hundreds of RVCs were organized in India and the Philippines, RVCs in Mexico and Alabang were recognized in the international convention in Munich, and Rick King had organized two RVCs in Oakland, California. Through it all, it was known that the RVC program was a genuine Philippine product.
From Arch Klumpf’s statement of a vague desire to do good in the world, we trace the origin of the Rotary Foundation, which did not start to grow to its current great state until two decades later. In contrast, RCC came to Rotary fully formed, and already functioning where it came from. The board was presented with a complete RVC constitution, which I had personally written, and the board approved it without debate. That is why it is puzzling, and annoying, not to find in the RCC publications from Evanston any such mention of its beginning. I am anxious to project that Philippine origin of RVC because it is the action program of Rotary that best expresses the compassion of our people.
Evanston, unfortunately, is not much help. Over the years, it has failed to promote RCC while copiously broadcasting materials for Interact, Rotaract, and the Peace universities. Many times, official listings of Rotary programs fail to include RCC. It was a pleasant surprise to see in the July issue of the Rotarian an inch for it in Rotary Basics. But in the official RCC publications, I have so far seen only one mention of the Philippines, relating to a project by an individual corps. And this is how the origin of RCC is stated:
Idea introduced by then RI president-elect M.A.T. Caparas in 1985
RI Board adopted program in 1988
The truth is that the1985 board acted only to approve the budget on what I could spend for the launch of RVC in 1986, and an enactment of the Council on Legislation, not the 1988 board, was what made RVC an official Rotary program. I therefore find it curious that the year 1986-87, when RCC was really born, is not even mentioned. That is puzzling because 1986-87 was arguably the most eventful single year in the whole history of Rotary, if we do not count natural catastrophes and financial disasters. Besides launching RCC, the board that year (1) purchased the 14-storey building which we made our international headquarters and now call One Rotary Center; (2) started the extremely successful two-year fund-raising campaign for PolioPlus; and (3) finally decided to accept women Rotarians.
To much jubilation at the Munich convention in 1987, I announced all of these highly significant and far-reaching accomplishments. I have since been quiet, not wanting to appear boastful. But twenty-five years later, when there appear no recognition and acclaim due the country and people, let us strive to gain them through the excellence of our Rotary service with RCC and any other program within our reach. At this silver anniversary, let us draw the full potential of RCC for good to our people. Let us, in that way, show the world what great gift Philippine Rotary gave to the world in that wonderful year when one of our countrymen led our organization.
Rotary Club of Caloocan, D.3800
"Rotary Brings Hope"
Fellow Rotarians and Friends in RCC,
Thank you for being here, and for wanting to promote and advance the Rotary Community Corps program. As you know, this Road show is a special event called by all the District Governors with the support of the Philippine College of Rotary Governors and the active participation of the RVC Foundation. They want the Roadshow to commemorate also the silver anniversary of RCC as an official program of Rotary International. As one with much personal interest and connection with RCC, I thank you cordially. I also thank all those who put this admirable Roadshow together, especially Past Governor Guiller Tumangan who, I know, has been working at it for many months.
I want to give special thanks to a friend I admire, a very distinguished gentleman who honors this gathering with his presence. He is no less than the President-Elect of Rotary International. Sakuji Tanaka San and his dear lady, Kyoko, have come from Evanston in friendship to the country and its people and to all Rotarians. They give great distinction to this affair, and I am with you in thanking them and giving them a most hearty welcome. Let us all be sure to make their stay joyful and pleasant.
I see the program for this Roadshow to be very good, and knowledgeable Rotarians will be conducting it. As a senior Rotarian, I feel the little I can contribute would best be historical, preferably related to the observance of the silver anniversary of RVC, or RCC. Indeed, convincing enlightenment about the origin of the program seems sorely needed.
The RVC program is the refined version of a program that many Rotary clubs had when I was President-elect preparing for office. Called Adopt a Barrio, it consisted mainly in the club giving to the barrio folks things they needed and could not get without giving up something equally important. It was humanitarian and heart-warming, but I saw that much of what the village received quickly disappeared for lack of care. I felt the help that the club was giving would last longer if there were an organization in the village to take care of it. I shared that thought with the Rotary Club of Manila, and I know they started to act on it.
I visualized that non-Rotarian group, which even then I called Rotary Village Corps, to be assistants of the club in the extension of help to the village. In the far-away villages which Rotarians have difficulty visiting more than once, the RVC would do what the Rotarians could not. It would give needed hands and feet to Rotary. It would actually do Rotary work without being a Rotary club. It was in fact thoughts of that kind of RVC work that called to my mind the theme "Rotary Brings Hope".
When I broached the idea to the board, some opposed it, saying it would apply only to developing countries. I said it would apply to the inner cities of the wealthiest nations; that there was no rule that excluded a program that did not apply to the whole world; and that the population of the developing countries, to which RVC would apply, outnumbered the rest of the world, anyway. Other opponents said RVC looked like a poor man’s Rotary club. I said it was not, but that in areas where it would operate, it would do a better job than Rotary clubs. I was sure in any case that my board, the one I would preside over the next year, would adopt the program, and a budget for its launch was adopted.
The group we adopted carried the Rotary name because, unlike Interact and Rotaract, from which Rotary just hoped to get new members, the RVC would operate as assistant to Rotary clubs. And because there was much dispute about women in Rotary at the time, I made clear that RVC would have men and women members. I hoped membership of women in this partner in service that carried the Rotary name would be a big step to admission in Rotary.
As approved, RVC was a pilot program that would be reviewed after three years. At the next Council on Legislation, however, Roberto Valentin of Puerto Rico, Frank Devlyn of Mexico, and Rajah Saboo of India succeeded in including attendance at an RVC meeting as a valid make-up for absence from a Rotary meeting. With that mention of RVC in the by-laws, the board considered its pilot status terminated. But even before then, hundreds of RVCs were organized in India and the Philippines, RVCs in Mexico and Alabang were recognized in the international convention in Munich, and Rick King had organized two RVCs in Oakland, California. Through it all, it was known that the RVC program was a genuine Philippine product.
From Arch Klumpf’s statement of a vague desire to do good in the world, we trace the origin of the Rotary Foundation, which did not start to grow to its current great state until two decades later. In contrast, RCC came to Rotary fully formed, and already functioning where it came from. The board was presented with a complete RVC constitution, which I had personally written, and the board approved it without debate. That is why it is puzzling, and annoying, not to find in the RCC publications from Evanston any such mention of its beginning. I am anxious to project that Philippine origin of RVC because it is the action program of Rotary that best expresses the compassion of our people.
Evanston, unfortunately, is not much help. Over the years, it has failed to promote RCC while copiously broadcasting materials for Interact, Rotaract, and the Peace universities. Many times, official listings of Rotary programs fail to include RCC. It was a pleasant surprise to see in the July issue of the Rotarian an inch for it in Rotary Basics. But in the official RCC publications, I have so far seen only one mention of the Philippines, relating to a project by an individual corps. And this is how the origin of RCC is stated:
Idea introduced by then RI president-elect M.A.T. Caparas in 1985
RI Board adopted program in 1988
The truth is that the1985 board acted only to approve the budget on what I could spend for the launch of RVC in 1986, and an enactment of the Council on Legislation, not the 1988 board, was what made RVC an official Rotary program. I therefore find it curious that the year 1986-87, when RCC was really born, is not even mentioned. That is puzzling because 1986-87 was arguably the most eventful single year in the whole history of Rotary, if we do not count natural catastrophes and financial disasters. Besides launching RCC, the board that year (1) purchased the 14-storey building which we made our international headquarters and now call One Rotary Center; (2) started the extremely successful two-year fund-raising campaign for PolioPlus; and (3) finally decided to accept women Rotarians.
To much jubilation at the Munich convention in 1987, I announced all of these highly significant and far-reaching accomplishments. I have since been quiet, not wanting to appear boastful. But twenty-five years later, when there appear no recognition and acclaim due the country and people, let us strive to gain them through the excellence of our Rotary service with RCC and any other program within our reach. At this silver anniversary, let us draw the full potential of RCC for good to our people. Let us, in that way, show the world what great gift Philippine Rotary gave to the world in that wonderful year when one of our countrymen led our organization.
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