February 21, 2013

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