By Jose Oscar Magpusao
The Rotary Club of Zamboanga City bestowed the Paul Harris Fellow Award to Vice President Leni Robredo for her service to the Filipino people during a virtual conferment on Saturday.
The Rotary recognized the Vice President's various humanitarian endeavors, commending her proactive efforts in empowering communities to be self-reliant and offering assistance to Filipinos struggling in the pandemic, among others. The Rotary remarked that her actions exemplified the Rotary's motto of "Service Above Self."
“A world of peace and good will comes closer to reality today as Vice-President Maria Leonor Gerona Robredo becomes a Paul Harris Fellow. It is because of gifts like the one made in the Vice President’s honor that the Rotary Foundation can carry out an array of programs that achieve beneficial changes in our world: improved living conditions, increased food production, better education, wider availability of treatment and rehabilitation for the sick and disabled, new channels for the flow of international understanding, and brighter hopes for peace,” Jesus Vincent Carbon III, President of the Rotary Club of Zamboanga City, said during his speech.
“A contribution to the Rotary Foundation is an investment in the ideal of goodwill, peace and understanding. That is an ideal held high by Rotarians the world over, and one that the Vice President shares. Working with such individuals of goodwill, we believe the ideal will become a reality,” he added.
The Paul Harris Fellow Award, established by the Rotary Foundation in 1957, is granted to show appreciation to contributors of the Foundation and highlights individuals exemplifying the principles of goodwill and selfless action. Awardees are bestowed three emblems - a certificate, a medallion and a pin - to commemorate their induction as a Paul Harris Fellow.
VP Leni's response
Robredo showed her gratitude to the Rotary and attributed her success to her partners and contributors for providing her the means to achieve her humanitarian endeavors, stating that the award belongs to not only herself, but also to “all the people and organizations who, in the pandemic, worked together in their own capacity and placed their faith in the office of the Vice President as we did what we could to help our people in this time of crisis.”
“One lesson has been constantly clear: ‘No one ever succeeds alone.’ Success is only made possible through constant collaboration with partners. In our case, from both the private sector and the local government, and so many citizens who are extraordinary in their selflessness,” she added.
“We are merely a conduit of their compassion. A center of gravity. We are glad to see that our efforts to earn their trust have borne fruit in even more initiatives to help those in need,” she added.
“As we have learned over the past year and a half, the only way through any crisis is together. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the imperative to put our heads together and contribute towards a collective goal,” she added.
