John N.

Abletis
PUP Department of Sociology

On DISTAS

On July 1 this year, at the Club Filipino, I sworn, in front of the Rotarians and Rotaractors of the
Rotary Club of San Francisco Del Monte, that I would fulfill my duties as our Rotaract Club’s Community
Service Director. During that time, my conceptions about the responsibilities associated with the
position were rough. We officers plan community projects together without giving too much attention
to our statuses in the club; in short, we treated our Rotaract Club as a barkadahan with some tint of
formality. During that time, the sense of responsibility wasn’t yet going through my veins. That changes
a lot when I attended the DISTAS last Saturday (August 21).
Before reaching that great day, I was busy attending logistical matters in AIPh-PUP and in
minding what topic im about to discuss in class. In a club meeting before the DISTAS, I was given the task
of minding our tarpaulin and in watching over our club’s booth in a bazaar at ABS-CBN on Friday, 5pm to
8pm. Those days ran smoothly, yet tedious, until the DISTAS day arrived.
The program at the DISTAS started past 9am because the organizers were waiting for enough
number of audiences in the hall (Bulwagang Amoranto). In our club, Noel and Dawn were the first to
arrive, followed by me, then the rest. DRR Virgil De Los Santos called the meeting to order at around
9:30 am, followed by an invocation and the singing of the national anthem led by the rotaractors of
Batasan Hills (they’re in chorus and they sang very well), next was the choral recital of the four way test,
then the parade of the presidents, and the welcoming speeches of several rotarians. Time was running
fast until the program reached a point where the participants would be divided into groups based on
their respective club positions. Consequently, I with the other community service directors were
grouped together, under the mentorship of Past President Carmi Bergado.
All of us were shy except Maam Carmi, an energetic and inspiring woman, who initiated us to
talk about ourselves and to make friends with other rotaractors. She first introduced herself,
emphasizing that she was a former teacher, with a bachelor’s degree from UE and an MA degree from
PNU. She proceeded with her discussion on our roles and responsibilities as community service
directors, stressing that what we do is the backbone of rotary and rotaract clubs, instilling in our minds
the principle “service above self”, and that we should initiate, among others, the planning and
implementation of community projects. That marked into my mind, and during that time I was
beginning to feel how heavy my position is in the club. She continued her lecture by giving us examples
of community projects, including promotion of literacy, beautification of the community, giving
livelihood seminars and workshops, and giving leadership trainings. She was consistently stressing that
our projects should be based on the needs of the community (this reminds me of my Community
Development subject in PUP when I was just a student) and that we should conduct community needs
assessment before planning and implementing a project. As a mother, she advised us that we should
never stop learning and discovering our talents, that we should hone our skills, and that we should
never stop dreaming. She ended her speech on personal development with a reminder that she would
soon visit us to ask what our talents are and what we are doing to develop them. She proceeded her
lecture on our roles by discussing how to become effective leaders, emphasizing how a good skill in
public speaking could command respect and honor. Other parts of the lecture were technicalities so I
didn’t include them here to prevent my readers from boredom =)
We next had our lunch, then the awarding of tokens and certificates, proceeded by a video
presentation about the Run for Pasig project of ABS-CBN, by an election of the DRR for Rotary Year
2011-2012, the induction of elected presidents from their respective rotaract clubs, and a state of the
district address delivered by District Rotaract Representative Viril De Los Santos. District Governor
Ambo delivered his speech on leadership, followed by other speeches of several invited rotarians. Next
was the presentation of the Asia Pacific Rotaract Regional Conference, the Group Study Exchange
Program, and our country’s delegates to them. The program was concluded by an evaluation headed by
Service to New Generations Chair Linda Elequin.