Optimism

Netnet Camomot

I WAS with Rotary International District 3870 District Governor Jing dela Calzada and fellow Rotarians when we visited Marawi City last Sunday for the unveiling of the Rotary marker that the Rotary Club (RC) of Metro Ranao installed near the city’s “Welcome” arc.

There are now two Rotary clubs in Marawi, with the second one, RC Marawi City, chartered only this year.

For now, the city’s first Rotary club, RC Metro Ranao, is under an assistant governor from Iligan. But with the two clubs, they’ll finally have an assistant governor who’s a resident of Marawi and whose term will start on July 1, 2017.

Gov. Jing and a Metro Ranao Rotarian are both doctors. They were talking about a government hospital’s modern facilities which Gov. Jing saw when she participated in a medical mission there a few years ago.

Last Tuesday, while I was reading Facebook posts on the situation at Amai Pakpak Medical Center, I asked Gov. Jing if that’s the same hospital, and she said yes.

Marawi’s Rotarians were in Valencia, Bukidnon on April 29 to May 1 for the 33rd district conference where they became so inspired by the plenary speakers, an inspiration that spurred the planning of a Rotary marker as a symbol of their commitment to service. Gov. Jing and RC Metro Valencia, her Club and the discon’s host, chose plenary speakers whose advocacies are ideal examples of Rotary’s motto, Service Above Self.

It took them two weeks to build that marker, and finally it was ready last Sunday, with the Rotarians buoyed by so much optimism for Rotary’s future in Marawi. We even suggested the chartering of a Rotaract club for the city’s younger generation.

After the marker’s unveiling, we had lunch at the provincial capitol, then were toured around the city by our host, and passed by city hall before traveling to Iligan.

Rotary has had 1.2 million members for many years now and the organization hopes to increase that in the near future through membership retention and recruitment of quality members. Enthusiasm, such as that of Marawi’s Rotarians, is what the organization needs. And we are all praying that the situation there now is merely a temporary dent in the city’s dream of finally having peace and security.

The first time I was in Marawi was in the ’90s when we attended a Jaycee induction at the Mindanao State University, with then Vice President—or Senator?—Erap Estrada as the guest speaker. His son, JV Ejercito, who’s now a senator, became the Jaycees’ national president sometime in the ‘90s, and this less than six degrees of separation made it easy for the organization to invite Erap.

Last Sunday’s visit was only my second time to be there. There’s so much bad press about Marawi, but when Gov. Jing asked if the District Public Relations Committee, of which I’m co-chair, could join her for the marker’s unveiling, I simply said yes. No hesitation whatsoever. But had there been this slight hesitant feeling, I would have said no. Gut instinct and all that jazz.

Our country is beautiful. Well, except for areas controlled by some misbehaving mining companies. But generally, still beautiful. The Pearl of the Orient Seas is a group of islands where foreigners love to swim, snorkel, dive. Enterprising Pinoys, on the other hand, may only be focusing on their return on investment, forgetting that there’s also money in ecotourism which Gina Lopez has been raving about.

Supposedly unsafe places in Pinas are also beautiful, if only the lack of security is removed from their description.

Manchester, England is also considered as a safe place. But a suicide bomber was there after Ariana Grande’s concert.

And then, there was that car that speeded down the sidewalks of Times Square in New York last week, killing an 18-year-old tourist and injuring 22 people. That was not a terrorist attack, however, but a car with a driver, Richard Rojas, who revealed he “smoked marijuana,” and “laced the marijuana with PCP.”

Which may now give marijuana a bad press?

But where do we go now?

On our way back to Cagayan de Oro, Gov. Jing and I, with her on the driver’s seat, were stuck in Opol’s traffic for three hours. We joined the long and winding line of crawling cars at 4:30pm and were able to get outta there only at 7:30pm. But somehow we didn’t notice the wait, and only realized it had been three hours when it was already dark by the time we left Opol. It must have been the enthusiasm and optimism of Marawi’s Rotarians that reminded us to stay above petty things like traffic woes. And it could be Gov. Jing who always stays above it all, always able to see a situation from a wider perspective. I’ve never heard her complain about anything. She’s definitely a woman who functions from her good and compassionate heart.

This is the district governor who has inspired us to achieve way more than what we aimed for at the start of Rotary Year 2016-2017. Despite her historic achievements, though, she has remained humble, down to earth, and focused on her goals. Thus, I could understand the enthusiasm and optimism of Marawi’s Rotarians. Gov. Jing’s good example is contagious.

And it was her birthday yesterday. The happiest of birthdays, Gov. Jing!