Quota International @ Cebu 2009

THE fair weather in Cebu City had been perfect for this year’s 15th District 41 Conference hosted by Quota International (QI) of Cebu in coordination with QI Talisay and QI Mandaue.

And Quota International Pampanga braved to the Queen City of the South to join in the district conference, reaffirming time and again their commitment to bring more worthy causes to their province.

Aside from the usual leadership seminars and workshops, the event was also an opportunity among QI ladies to meet with other chapters all across the country.

Leading the QI Pampanga delegation were QI Pampanga President May Bergmann-Shilton and QI ladies Monina “Mons” Laus, Luchie Gutirrez, Malou Garbes, and Board Member Edna David, among others.

Quotarians have to hand it over to chairperson Tina Corominas of QI Cebu for choosing Cebu City Marriott Hotel for the fabulous venue of the event.

Mons Laus, who initially had second thoughts of coming because of Board Member Ceferino Laus, was kind enough to tag me along that late Friday for a taste of a Quota Convention. The convention was in celebration of the establishment of Quota Chapters in the Philippines.

Quota International, founded in 1919 by Wanda Frey Joiner, is one of the world’s oldest international service organizations. It celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, counting a network of nearly 6,500 members in 300 local clubs in 14 countries. The Quota International District 41, which is the Philippines, has been part of the network since 1976.

The much-awaited yearly competition of performances between Quota Chapters was held at the Cebu Capitol Building. This year’s theme centered on Broadway musicales and films. Quota Pampanga performed the daunting production of Miss Saigon under the tutelage of Randy del Rosario and Jay Vincent Luna, both of whom work with Miss Saigon Choreographer Andy Alviz.

Imagine these quota ladies, the prime of Pampanga upper society, donning their alluring and sexy dresses and dancing to the heated songs of Miss Saigon. It was sexy but still glamorous.

Although Quota Pampanga was not able to bag the first place award this year, Quotarian Maricel Morales was able to bring home for QI Pampanga the Best Actress Award for her role as Kim.

Undoubtedly, Pampanga Quotarians were able to wow other audiences from the different chapters. Quota ladies were even more beautiful in the Governor’s Ball as they promenaded the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom.

Quotarians partied all night, but in the middle of all these they lined up projects, reported their accomplishments and affirmed their commitment for better services to poor communities of their respective localities. (IOF)

El Circulo Fernandino 2009

The El Circulo Fernandino is the annual reception and ball of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga to open the fiesta celebrations culminating on May 30. It is one of the most prestigious social events in Pampanga where, as in the olden days, women would flaunt their best jewelry, gowns and ternos, and men would elegantly dress in their best pina barongs, and dance the night away. El Circulo Fernandino is the oldest surviving social club in Pampanga. Formed sometime 1920, it was an organization for the social elite of San Fernando. Its precursor was the La Gente Alegre de San Fernando (The Merry Folks).

According to John Larkin in his book The Pampangans, “a new phenomenon, town and provincial social clubs, which sprang up in the early American years, demonstrated how the native upper class flourished under the new regime. These organizations, exclusively for the elite, provided among other things an opportunity for young single adults to socialize with and meet others of the same age and class.”

Larkin later mentions, “the Pampangan elite, a greater number of them emulating late nineteenth century patterns of behavior, turned their attention to peer group organizations, politics, and extra provincial activities. They resolved many if their economic and political problems by banding together into various agricultural organizations and political parties. The trend toward forming upper-class social clubs for amusement also continued. Such groups as the Young Generation in Macabebe, the Kundiman in Angeles, and the Circulo Fernandino in San Fernando were all patterned after organizations formed in the early American years.” Also worth mentioning is the fact that when the town of Santo Tomas was still part of San Fernando, the Thomasian, an organization which organized the annual Sabado de Gloria Ball, was formed. The ball is the oldest uninterrupted social event in Pampanga.

El Circulo Fernandino organized annuals balls and receptions to achieve this end. All of it however stopped as a result of the hostilities during the Second World War. After the war, the organization again resumed its social activities. But the annual receptions were halted again in 1987.

It was only in 1997 that the organization decided to revive its annual receptions under the presidency of Engr. Angelo David and Dr. Leticia Cordero-Yap. The El Circulo Fernandino Foundation, Inc. was born as a result of this revival, transforming the organization from a strictly social-status club to a socially involved organization.

As part of keeping up with Filipino traditions, the immortal dance classic, the rigodon de honor, is performed by the prominent citizens of the City, men in their best piña barongs and women in dazzling and colorful ternos.[1