ROTARY FOR PEACE
“Why are we here? A soldier swore to three things: to protect the Filipino people, to protect the territory of our country and to preserve the Constitutions. Never use the Army to be the enemy of the people. Our Special Forces Motto: DE OPRESSO LIBER – “To liberate the Oppressed”. From Guns to Books is just one of our projects with The Yakans and MNLF community. Soldiers go to them not to make war but to bring books, papers, pencils, etc. It is all about trust. They need more help. We are not to be afraid. We just need to communicate and understand what they really need. We are proud to transform them from fighters to farmers. Yakans and MNLF children make friends with soldiers and Rotary Club of Basilan. There is war because we don’t care to talk. These people are not lazy, they just need to be teach and give them a chance to show their skills. Tausog, etc now planting in the farm, we provided them with machineries. Last March 2016, we have harvested rice, etc. Now they are on the 3rd cropping. They said, “Thank you for now we are earning, we can send our kids to school, help our families, etc. We are not going to be terrorists anymore.” We bring Education – we bridge peace thru education to transform lives. They are overrated with prejudice that they are bad people. They are not our enemies (Yakans, MNLF). We have a flag worth living for and a flag worth dying for. As soldier, we fight to help communities; we fight because we love the people behind us. We fight to preserve something than our own lives.” Speaker is 1st LT Ron Villarosa, Jr. , Public Affairs Officer, Special Forces Airborne, 4th Special Forces Battalion (Riverine), Brgy Cabunbata, Isabela City, Basilan./ March 10, 2017 @ Grand Xing Imperial, Iloilo City
RI PRES REPRESENTATIVE'S REACTION...
"They all talked about sustainability, outcomes, assessment, being collaborative, doing good, strategic planning, vision, contributing something to this world and solving problems thru peace. They talked about thinking-outside- the-box, building personal trust, relationships, being protectors, empowerment, partnership and coming out. Major passion is about transforming communities. A strong Rotary Club makes us strong communities. Strong communities makes us stronger in the future for doing good in our world. And everyone of this passion can be link to Rotary. Use your passion to do good in this world and transform communities."- RI Pres Rep Frances Milberg of D6900, Florida, USA. (Reaction) March 10, 2017 @ Grand Xing Imperial Hotel, Iloilo City.
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