Secretary’s
Corner_02212013
A delegation
of 12 Rotarians from our Club composed of PE Therese Montecer, AG Doray Giorla,
PP Gina Sanchez, PN Rose Caoc, Rtn. Annie Tomas, PDG Pepe Peralta, PP Tony
Abola, PP Pol Leoncio, Pres. Jojo Bacarro, PP Nan Sallan, ‘FDG’ Benny Pe, and I
took the 6:55am Cebu Pacific flight for Cebu last Feb. 15 to accompany PE
Therese and ascertain that she attends the Ten-District PETS held at the
Waterfront Hotel Lahug, Cebu. Philippine Rotary History was made with this first
nationwide President Elect Training Seminar, something we did not want Therese
to miss, the other motive was to make sure that she does not back out of her
presidency.
Our
delegation was accompanied by Doray’s Mom, her Aunt, and classmate from RC
Northbay, PP Ellen. PDG Pepe also brought his son Iman – we were a big group
really, thanks to PP Pol who arranged two vans to meet us at the airport when
we arrived and made hotel room reservations for us at the Vacation Hotel Cebu,
while PDG Pepe, Iman, and PP Gina were booked at the Waterfront Hotel.
After checking in at the hotel and figuring
out the room assignments, we took breakfast and continued to rent one van to
take us around town. We were off to an early lunch at the Golden Cowrie restaurant
where we were joined by Rtn. Bernard Morillo and spouse Cecile who spent
Valentine’s Day in Cebu the day before.
After lunch
we dropped off Therese at the Waterfront Hotel by 1:00pm for the opening of the
PETS. Doray’s Mom and Aunt also disembarked to visit the Waterfront Casino. For
the rest of us, it was the start of our junket. The van took us to the various tourist
spots in Cebu but it was raining that Friday afternoon, so we weren’t able to
go down from the van. Instead, we purchased round-trip tickets for the fast
ferry ride to Bohol the following day. The group split up when some decided to
go back to the hotel to rest, while Pres Jojo went to visit his client Visayas
Electric Co. as Doray, Benny and I went to check on her Mom at the Casino. From
there we were met by the rest of the group for an early dinner, and then called
it the day.
We were up
early on Saturday morning to catch the 6:00am ferry ride to Tagbilaran, Bohol. At
the dock, another van arranged by Doray’s client met us and drove us around the
island. Our itinerary included breakfast, trip to the Chocolate Hills as we
passed various old churches, the Tarsier Conservation Area in Loboc, and late
Lunch at the five star Eskaya Resort before taking the 4:00pm ferry back to
Cebu.
Travelling
over air, land, and sea has taken its toll as some decided to retire early
Saturday evening. The rest however still managed to make it to dinner by
walking to a restaurant a few meters away from Vacation Hotel.
It was an early
breakfast at the Hotel the next day, then off we went to Sunday mass at the Sto
Nino chapel, from there a quick visit to Magellan’s cross followed by an early
lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant. We checked out of Vacation Hotel after
lunch, did some last minute shopping of Zubu Chon before heading off to the
airport to catch our 3:55pm flight for Manila. I arrived home at 7:00pm.
It was a
weekend of rising up early, spending time in passenger terminals, catching
flights and boat rides, sleeping in a different bed, bonding with my follow
Rotarians, with lots of good food, tons of laughter, visiting new places,
meeting new people, a break from the usual, another wonderful experience, it
was fun. We should do this again!
Cheers and
enjoy Rotary J
Sec/PP Jovie
