August 15, 2022 GM Meeting

Screen shot of  Zoom Attendees

PHYSICALLY PRESENT:

Pres. Giselle Concepcion

PDG Baby Perez Sison

Minerva Tanseco

PAD Nonie Basilio

Patty Jalbuena

Bee Angeles

Zenas Lozada

PP Lulu Castaneda

PRESENT VIA ZOOM:

PAD Daisy Arce

PP Anatess Oracion

VP Ruby Amog

PP Corito Llamas

Mina Gabor

Carol Sanchez

Girlie Pe

Cynthia SA Cruz

PP Nene Pe Lim

Nida Lopez

Teody Buenaflor

PP Menchu Pascual

Grace Soong

Daisy Serrano

Chit Manabat

PP Fely Umandap

Tess Herbosa

PP Nila Mata


Guest Member Candidates Present:

Ma. Lourdes Pauline Guanzon

Mia Patricia Joaquin

Christina Guanzon

Helen Masaab  (physically present)

There being a quorum, Pres. Giselle Concepcion (Giselle) called the meeting to order at 10:30a.m.

VP Ruby led the Zonta Prayer and thereafter the members sang the Zonta Hymn and the National Anthem.

Giselle said that she provided the Agenda in advance to all the members. Upon motion made and duly seconded, the Agenda was approved. 

Giselle began the meeting by conveying to Minerva Tanseco (Minerva) her heartfelt appreciation for generously hosting the GMM and providing the sumptuous lunch. 

She greeted the August celebrants: Chit Manabat - Aug. 1 and Menchu Pascual – August 10 as well as the July celebrants: Nida Lopez -July 6;  Minerva - July 10; and PP Nila Mata - July 15.



Minerva shared her happy memories of the club’s past out of town trips, excursions, pilgrimage and Lenten recollections expenses for which were borne by her. She promised she will do this again  when Covid restrictions are lifted, and when members are ready to go out. She will bring them to Antipolo for free.  Giselle suggested that members may wish to give small donations to the club to convey their gratitude and appreciation for the sponsorships undertaken by members.



Ruby described herself as an ADVOCATE for the elderly, women and children and a proponent for education and has worked tirelessly as a volunteer, supporting and promoting many causes and organizations especially in the Hamilton area (Ontario, Canada), as well as fundraising and serving as an executive of non-profit agencies. This has allowed her to concentrate on improving her community and the lives of those with whom she has worked so closely. Ruby is a passionate and dedicated supporter/donor of Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice and Zonta Club of Manila Foundation Inc. To her, hospice is for people who have a limited life expectancy. The goal of the Hospice is to improve quality of life and dignity in the patient's end of life, focusing on comfort care, control of pain, and symptom management, as opposed to continuing curative treatments. As a specialized form of healthcare, palliative care improves the patient’s quality of life and that of their families who are facing challenges associated with life-threatening illness, whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual. And this is why the Hospice is very important to Ruby. To date, she has been a Zonta member for 17 years. Ruby transferred her membership from Zonta Club of Hamilton, Ontario Canada to Zonta Club of Manila Foundation Inc. and is a dedicated supporter/donor, committed to its projects thereby empowering women through service and advocacy. On her leadership role, she is focused on three directives: education, growth & volunteerism. She believes that all great organizations are built on hard work and dedication. She is very much involved in working to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. She works closely with seniors to improve their quality of life by helping them utilize the resources available locally, provincially, and federally. Multicultural community involvement has always been one of Ruby’s foremost endeavors in the Hamilton area. She works with cultural groups to assist them in navigating through the various obstacles that new comers to Canada experience on a daily basis. 119 years later, In 2012, Ruby became  the first female of South East Asian descent to become the President of the Canadian Club of Hamilton (an all white male organization founded in 1893 to share & promote passion for Canada & foster diversity & inclusion). She is also a member of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI) and was involved in the Planning Committee of the 150th Anniversary in 2012 with Prince Edward as the guest of honor whom she met personally. Ruby is also a longtime supporter of the Friends of H.M.C.S. HAIDA.


Ruby has been married for 48 years and blessed with a daughter. Ruby looked after her 96-year-old mother for almost 40 years until she passed away 4 years ago. She was a retired government employee (Ministry of Health & Ministry of Community & Social Services) for 35 years. She is currently involved in the following organizations:

Accolades received: 

Ruby was the first Filipino Canadian to be given these awards in the province of Ontario & the City of Hamilton.


Giselle thanked Ruby and stated that Ruby is the second presenter in the Meet our ZCMFI Members segment of the GMM, the first time, being Mina Gabor. She said  that they serve as great inspirations for all the members.

     

Giselle said that one of the groups she would like to form takes off from  the idea of PP Nene, a project on Caring for Elderly Women. Ruby said she wanted to join this group because she has direct experience in hospice care. The members congratulated Ruby.


c.  Membership and  Recruitment –   Giselle  introduced  PP  Anatess  Oracion (Anatess) as the Chair of the Membership Committee for this biennium.  Anatess said that in Zonta, members join a global group of like-minded individuals that work for the empowerment of women world-wide through service and advocacy. They contribute to the local community, foster friendship , develop leadership skills and try to make a difference in the world around them. The focus is on gender issues, maintaining the traditional advocacies for women and children, promoting the values of volunteerism and participating in the many service projects of the Club and also in  advocating  Zonta International’s positions on women locally and internationally. A Zontian is expected to pay annual dues, attend club meetings, attend and participate in club projects and be kind, honest, helpful, loyal and trustworthy and  participate in the development of leadership skiils. 


She presented the candidates for membership of PAD Daisy Arce (Daisy) as follows:



Daisy said that her candidates are third generation Zontians. They were members of ZC Manila 3 which is now defunct. Therefore, in determining whether the Club will accept them or not, other than their qualifications, the Club should consider the fact that they have been involved in Zonta advocacies, including the prevention of  teenage pregnancies and that they want to joint ZC Manila1.


Giselle introduced her nominees who are her childhood friends and classmates from Assumption, but were unable to attend because of other engagements.  Both Luli and Marlu were present during her installation event in her La Vista home on May 21.



PDG Baby Perez Sison (Baby) introduced her nominee, Helen Masaab with the following profile:


i. Helen Masaab – A Business Management Marketing Public Relations, Image-building and Communications person; She would like to contribute to and further develop art, history and culture, and to further develop the tourism industry in order to generate higher income and employment for the country as a whole; Brand Owner of Shantal Fashion Jewelry and Apparel exclusively distributed in Rustans Dept. Stores; She is also into real estate development and into basal mining; She has been involved with Manila Midtown Ramada Hotel as a Marketing and Public Relations person at Laurenti International, Inc.; she used to be involved company in the Philippines with manufacturing and selling 24k gold jewelry and personal care products.


Giselle and Anatess said that member candidates can be admitted by invitation of the Club’s members. Giselle said that the District and Zonta International webinars gave reminders that there are application forms online.  Anatess is in the process of preparing new forms. 

 

d.    Summary of discussion at caucus on Monday, July 18, 2022 –


Baby reported that ZI membership dues of all 32 members have been paid.  She said that Hena Mangoang and Marita Abellera resigned but Daisy Serrano stayed with the club.  She said that Giselle will report on the proposed bazaar. She displayed samples of the pins to give members a basis for selecting the club pin since members are being encouraged to wear pins during meetings -  there are 2 pins – the President’s pin which costs P300.00 and the membership pin which costs P280.00.  She thanked Mina for proposing the  caravan tour as a project but suggested that it be postponed to a later date. She agreed with  Giselle's and Ruby's  suggestions that  members be encourage to give donations to the club in view of the generosity of some members like Minerva who offered to defray the cost of the caravan. She also said that although there are many members are amenable to holding face to face members' meeting instead of hybrid ones, she knows that there are also members who still have second thoughts about face-to-face meetings because they do not want to put their health at risk.


e. Platinum Anniversary fundraising – this dinner dance is scheduled on Thursday, November 10, 2022, from 6-11 pm, at the Wack-Wack Shaw Pavillion A. Pres. Giselle thanked Nonie for arranging the Marcy David Band at a discounted cost and Nene and Girlie, for the venue reservations. The attire will be smart casual. Giselle said that the plan is to have a maximum of 380 attendees in 38 tables for 10 persons/table at the cost of P25,000/table.  For individual tickets (less than a table), the cost will be P3,000/ticket. The estimated revenue is P1,150,000, the estimated expenses P340,000 and net revenue, 810,000.  She said that it is important to create an organizing committee and will request for volunteers to take care of the promotions, ticket, finance, venue, food and drink, décor, music band, registration, program/video, hosting, photos and documentation.  She said that it was taken up at the BOD meeting but that approval of the members is required for this fundraising activity. She then asked the members to decide whether they prefer the price/ticket to be P3,000/person or P2,500/person. Nonie proposed that the price of the ticket be uniform at P2,500 whether one buys tickets for a whole  table or just one ticket. After much discussion, the majority of the members voted for the ticket price to be at P2,500/person.  Daisy said she intends to get corporate donors and wanted to know exactly where and how and the funds that the club will collect for the Platinum Jubillee will be deposited and used.


f.       Attendance at General Membership Meetings - Patty Jalbuena (Patty) proposed that there should only be two options for attendance at membership meetings: a). zoom for those abroad and b). face to face for those in Manila, considering that Covid has subsided and is less severe.  Some members were not in favor.  Tess Herbosa (Tess) said that members should not be  forced to attend face to face meetings because it is their human right to avoid face to face meetings if they view it as posing a health risk. Majority of the members were in favor of resuming face to face meeting and the proposal was approved. Ruby said that in order to assist Minerva with food and venue requirements, she should be informed at least one week before the face to face meeting, on the number of confirmed members who will be attending.


g. Revision of Articles of Incorporation and By-laws – Ruby first thanked Tess for her work in proposing revisions to the Articles and By-laws. She shared video/slides and explained that she has reviewed the revisions. Highlighted revisions in red are required to comply with Zonta International protocols and revisions in blue still require approval by the members. Ruby requested Giselle to send the proposed revisions with highlights for the members to read and approve.  Giselle said that she will send the revisions to the members for approval and thanked Tess for her hard work. 


h. Short updates on activities/projects:

i. Chairs of the Nominating, Membership, Service and Advocacy Committees - Giselle said that it has been suggested that the chair for the Nominating Committee for the next biennium should be the immediate past president.  She thanked PP Nene Pe Lim (Nene) for graciously accepting the invitation. She announced that Anatess has agreed to chair the Membership Committee, and Ruby, the Advocacy Committee.  Anatess as membership chair said that she will go through the required process. She will send the application forms/documentation to prospective members,, convene the membership committee, get endorsements and present them to the membership for approval.  Giselle also said that DG Lia and AD Nonie have reminded the club presidents to produce policy papers for the benefit of women, in addition to setting up the usual club website and webinars.  She said that she will be the over-all chair of the Service Committee and summarized the Club's four major service projects as follows:


a)    Tondo Kiddie Class  –   one teacher for 2 sections being selected, 15 students per section classes opening  soon.


b)   Rajah-DHVSU Scholars and Z Clubs –   Giselle, Corito, Cynthia, Fely and Baby de Jesus  had a fantastic group meeting two weeks ago.  Girlie will give a report on the donations of Ruby and Patty.  The group plans to visit Rajah and DHVSU soon; visit to be planned by Fely and Corito.


c)   Young Mothers –  financial support for 5 young mothers from the Club and individual Club members has been obtained;  process of selecting 5 scholars ongoing.


d)   ASHI  - The club is planning bio-fertilizer training for ASHI farmers with UP Los BañosBiotech and bookkeeping training for ASHI nanays with FINEX Foundation c/o Chit


  ii. Website – c/o Ruby and Grace.  Grace said the website has not yet been set-up because only 4 members have submitted their bios. She shared the link to the unpublished website. Members can view the frontpage “Home”, “About us”, “Meetings of the Club”, “Service and Advocacy Projects, “Meet our Members” (with individual photos), list of members, the Board of Directors and all the past Presidents, “Contact Us” wherein Grace created the official email address of the club as: zontamanila1@gmail.com. Grace and Ruby are appealing to the members to send their bios, documents with pictures so that it can be posted, and the website can be published. 


 iii.   Google Group - Giselle said she created a google group for the Club and invited all members to accept the invitation. Messages and documents sent to this google group will be an alternate mode of communication to  viber as suggested by  Ruby. 


 iv.   Project Posters - Giselle showed a Zonta Manila 1 poster prepared by Girlie, a poster of the Young Mother Student Future and a new poster for Biennium 2022-2024 shared at the last meeting captioned “Empowering Women through Service and Advocacy Projects to Build a Better World for Women and Girls". 

          

 5. Adjournment:

There being no other business to transact, the meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.


Prepared by: Malou Juntilla

Reviewed and revised by: Gina Geraldez, Recording Secretary