The Club’s second center in East Rembo was dedicated to skills training in high-speed sewing and embroidery machines as a livelihood project for the disadvantaged women in the community. The Club undertook a literacy project for out-of-school youth in East Rembo, which gained the recognition of the Department of Education.

Many of the above-mentioned services, particularly the medical-dental program, and the preschool for children, are now being undertaken in the Club’s Center for Women Empowerment, a two-story building the club built and opened in 2000, at the Centennial Village of Fort Bonifacio in Taguig that houses over 700 poor families. The Center has been the venue of breast-cancer awareness seminars with free breast examinations of women by specialists led by well-known breast surgeon Dr. Diana Cua and staff of the East Avenue Medical Center. This service was likewise offered in as far away as San Pablo City in Laguna, along with various medical missions outside of Metro Manila.

A skills-training program for 26 unemployed women of Centennial Village, to become cosmetologists, was held at the Center in cooperation with the Splash Foundation. A livelihood program in the Center had trained women to sew maids’ uniforms, pillowcases, kneeler pillows, and tissue holders. Other livelihood-training seminars such as on Reflexology, food preservation and processing, have likewise been conducted to give the disadvantaged women in the community an opportunity to have their own microbusiness. To this end, a micro-credit program was established and is supported by TESDA alumnae. The women in the program have banded themselves into the “Kababihan” organization that gives them both financial and moral support.

UN Links  Ever mindful of Zonta’s links with the United Nations, various club presidents have linked up with the UN’s country team in the Philippines led by the UNDP, which presented the UN’s various programs in the country– the UNICEF, UN Food Program, and the UNIDO. The Club had likewise aligned its projects with the UN’s Millenium Development Goals.

Implementing ZISVAW in Marillac Hills  To address ZISVAW (Zonta International Strategies Against Violence Against Women), the Club has been working with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the last sixeen years at the latter’s rehabilitation center in Marillac Hills, Muntinlupa, where traumatized girls aged six to seventeen are housed and given psychotherapy sessions for as long as they need it. Almost all the girls have been sexually abused. Others had been physically battered. Some Zontians and their friends volunteer their time and talents giving the Marillac girls art and dance therapy sessions to help heal their trauma.

Through its past presidents, the Club had been at the forefront pushing for the passage of legislation against the trafficking of persons, resulting in R.A. 9202, as well as the Anti-Violence Against Women & their Children law (R.A. 9262).

Not to forget the youth, the Club has organized a total of six Z and Golden Z clubs. The Club received Honorable Mention in the ZI Emma Conlon Awards of 1994 for its Z Club’s outstanding summer project for the youth in a depressed community (PItogo) of Makati.

Because women bear the brunt of poverty, the club had partnered with Gawad Kalinga for the construction of 40 low-cost houses in Taguig. It also partnered with the ABS-CBN Foundation under its BayaniJuan project, to relocate families living under the bridges of Metro Manila by the Pasig River to Calauan, Laguna.

For the club’s outstanding performance, achieving the Governor’s biennium goals, which included chartering a new club and two Golden Z clubs, it was named Most Outstanding Club of District 17 at the District Conference in Aug. 2011. This was in addition to its being named outstanding club for its 20% increase in members from 2010-2011. Past president Angelina “Chona” Lopez, who was Area 5 Director in 2010-2012, was recognized for her leadership of Area 5 by its being named “Most Outstanding Area.”

From 2009 to date, the club has partnered with Unilever Corp., the Dept. of Social Welfare & Development (DSWD), Woman Today, and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in providing scholarships for young women in various engineering courses at the PUP. All its scholars subsequently passed the Board examinations and are today gainfully employed.

The Zonta Club of Makati and Environs Foundation, Inc. is justifiably proud of its members who have gone up the leadership ladder of Zonta International—Olivia A. Ferry, International President (2006-2008), and International Nominating Committee Chair (2008-2010); Erlinda T. Villanueva, Vice-president (1984-86), ZI Foundation Director (1986-88), and Member of the International Nominating Committee (1992-94); Erlinda E. Panlilio, International PR & Communications Chair (2006-2008); Georgitta P. Puyat, District 17 Governor (2010-2012).

Last but not the least, the Club is likewise proud of its one-time Zonta-Makati Chorale, installed in Area 5’s Hall of Fame for its consistent outstanding performance at Zonta events, culminating in its being the featured performer at the Memorial service of the ZI Convention in Hong Kong in 2000. This choir was likewise the featured performer of the Philippine Embassy in its celebration of Philippine Independence Day in Madrid, Spain in 1995.

At the beginning of biennium 2012-2014, president Corazon J. Tan is revisiting the core mission of Zonta–the empowerment of women. She has lined up projects to train women for livelihood skills, to instill awareness of their rights and to make them a force that will improve the status of women in the community.