It is gratifying to note that – more than ever -the incoming leadership of Rotary International will be truly novel. We

July 2003 Quick Links: Letter from the Editor Meet Jonathan Majiyagbe Rotary World Press Lend a Hand The RYLA 2003 Wonder Island Adventure Rotary International Appointments Introducing the 2003-04 RI Board Jun Cortes - The Man, His Dreams, His Visions

have an African President, for the very first time. We met him in Brisbane last year – at the Rotary World Press Conference – and we found him so down-to-earth, but full of wisdom. We particularly liked the way he deftly eluded every attempt to make him reveal the theme for this year… it was really no surprise because he a top caliber lawyer. It’s a pity that – as we were writing this – we heard about the tragic loss of his spouse Ade. We never got to meet her… but feel the loss… and we pray for her.

Now we know ... the president’s message to all Rotarians is “Lend a Hand.” We are all in this together… and we shall never truly accomplish our goals of service by working independently and apart from each other. We all have our own strengths and also our respective weaknesses. It is only by working as a team – the strong supporting the weak – can we see a better world. Lend a Hand… and when you need it, you too will get one. If all Rotarians resolve to Lend a Hand, we shall be multiplying our abilities and our capacities to serve. He was right who said: “When we do good for others, we are also doing it for ourselves.”

At the Orientation Seminar for DGRs-PRM in May… and in our talks at various district assemblies… we elicited shock from some Rotary leaders (specially governors) when we gave them the statistics on club subscriptions to the PRM… and rightly so! The office figures from RI (as of January 2003) show that there are 647 clubs with 16,958 Rotarians in our ten districts… only 9,305 are subscribing to PRM and 2,932 subscribe to The Rotarian. That means almost 30% of all Rotarians in the Philippines do not comply with the basic requirement to subscribe to either magazine! What is more disturbing is that only about one-half are subscribing to our PRM.

We agree that the payment deadlines imposed by Rotary International (July 1st and January 1st) are impractical… because very few clubs have the money available at the start of the Rotary year. Our experience also indicates that most clubs eventually pay their obligations at about the middle of each semester, But the fact is… we have receivables from subscriptions of over one million pesos! Our appeal to the delinquent clubs… please… Lend a Hand.

Congratulations to Chairman / PDG Dany Yu. For only the second time in the history of PCRG, the chairman is allowed another term of office. As in previous years… and in order that the new chairman may have ample elbow room, we have submitted our “courtesy resignation” from the position of Editor-in-Chief of Philippine Rotary magazine… effective upon acceptance or appointment of our replacement, whichever comes first. Whatever happens… we thank all those who helped us bring PRM to what it is today.