President’s Corner

Greetings! Serving as president of Zonta Club of Makati and Environs Foundation, Inc. for a second term is a very meaningful and fruitful time in the 34 years I have served in the club. Learning from past experiences taught me a lot of things like life lessons that can be applied to become more relevant, efficient, and effective as a leader or simply as an individual in the society. Women have been very successful in various professional careers, contemporaneously managing their personal and family life. I strongly believe that given the ‘equal’ opportunity, women have the potential to fundamentally change our world. However, there is an inherent limitation of our culture, setting boundaries for women and girls which are often defined by their families and by society. These limitations affect women’s morale and have always troubled me to the core. These challenges women face in every walk of their lives reflect our society’s failure. It is high time that we all join hands together, focusing on one goal which is to constantly empower women.

I never thought though that before the centennial biennium would end, we would experience a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time we are confronted with a disease that has no cure that we all had to go on ‘forced’ confinement to contain the virus. We are now experiencing a war so different from all other wars in history. It is doubly difficult to fight an enemy we cannot see with our naked eyes. The only way we can do our share to fight it is to STAY HOME and ISOLATE ourselves. Distancing ourselves and lessening our outside activities has led to so many changes, totally changing now how life is depicted. Life is simpler nowadays with each and every one of us is going back to basics. The environment has greatly improved brought by the ‘greener’ and sustainable practices we’ve been doing since the lockdown. Amidst this crisis, families became closer to each other. People become more spiritual and prayerful and this will be until a vaccine can be found for this deadly disease. The fact is, the world is still in a health crisis. The number of people getting sick increases daily. Being exposed to the deadly virus also puts our health workers at great risk. Nutrition, food, and medicine supply is becoming critical. The government and the private sector had to join together to help each other’s needs. Everyone’s focus has shifted to survival. Indeed this has become one of the most critical moments in the history of the world.

To all Zontians, I invite you to join me as we continue to do what we can to find a solution to the needs of the people during these dark and uncertain times. I hope and deeply pray for everyone’s health and safety. Thank you for sharing and understanding my views.