Going Beyond

Honored Guests, Government leaders, Stakeholders, JCI Family, the Merry Men of Mandaue, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Evening.

I speak tonight of gratitude, achievement, and high hopes for our beloved JCI.

It is the spirit of active citizenship, service to humanity, of firsts, that broke the ceiling for the Jaycees movement in Cebu 60 years ago. We credit and thank profoundly our founder Ariston Cortes together with a band of Mandaue City’s visionaries and leaders that gave birth to JCI Mandaue. The audacity of their dreams to pioneer an all male JCI local organization in Mandaue led to the establishment of what would be known as the Merry Men of Mandaue.

We credit them for laying down to cornerstone in which made the strong foundation we all stand today and we stand proud on our combined history with the Jaycees Movement, our humble beginning and the mark we have made in our community. We recognize as well JCI Cebu Inc., for fathering us, we would never celebrate tonight without them.

This year’s tagline of GOING BEYOND aptly describes the kind of engagement that JCI Mandaue wants to espouse – to inspire engagement by rallying on a common purpose of service.

GOING BEYOND is very much a sign of our times and it reflects an ambitious and crucially, diverse people who are determined to succeed and break glass ceilings where they see them, exceeding expectations and driving the organization to heights it has only dreamed about.

My childhood taught me that the real values in life aren't material but spiritual. They include faith and family, duty, and honor, and trying to make the world a better place much like GOING BEYOND.

Going Beyond is such a multifaceted endeavor one must first identify the values by which it has to stand on then identify one’s strengths and develop effective time management skills to thrive.

Let me share to you my thoughts on how I think GOING BEYOND means – it starts with an open mind set, the one that imbibes with the existing reality, the one that is open to try new things without any disregard for the long-standing customs and traditions but modernizing it to make it more relevant. When I was first invited to join the OTI in 2017, I never knew what being a JCI would mean. I attended it out of respect of the one who invited me.

Going Beyond also means that you are an effective and efficient communicator – the best if I may say. The ability to communicate your thoughts vividly creates an environment where there is a great chance of success. I always struggled to communicate my thoughts; I am always pulled back by my fear of not being able to say the right words at the right time – mayo ra ko sa bugal bugal dili sa mga seryoso na butang.

Going Beyond entails a lot of planning, executing, prioritizing and planning again.

Going Beyond allows benchmarking – of looking for best practices you can copy, modify and remodify to suit the kind of environment you are in.

Going Beyond is embracing change as an opportunity – to demonstrate resilience and tenacity. skills and acquiring new knowledge and skills that best suits the changing environment.

Mostly importantly, Going Beyond is about people. Listening to them to understand them. Making sure that they are heard, and their issues being acted upon. It is assisting them to be more productive by offering them your skills to help them complete of their tasks.

Finally, Going Beyond is having an attitude of gratitude, of showing appreciation for colleagues who contributed their time, talent and treasures to help build a strong foundation by which today each one of us stands on.

So tonight on this occasion, I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. By your mandate, through the grace of the Almighty, I stand here today in the traditional ritual of the assumption of the Presidency. It is an opportunity that speaks of our highest aspirations -- that we are not mere prisoners of fate, our actions matter and can make history every day!

My JCI Journey started small – a small dream of service, of contributing something to make this world a better place. What started as an ordinary huddle in 2017 fired up my dream and passion for service.

I remember vividly when then President Nike entrusted to my care the box which I never knew contained the medallion of the JCI Mandaue Presidents. Tempted to wear held back by superstition – ma jinx unya, I stared at it for a good 2 minutes. After a much heated debate in my mind – I’m sometimes a psycho, wore it with my black suit.

I said to myself, this looks good on me – I should work hard to earn the honor of wearing the president’s medallion someday. And that day is TODAY.

Never in my wildest dreams I have thought that I would be given an opportunity to lead an organization of equally passionate and dedicated young men.

My life story is never a bed of roses, I had all my life planned out after culinary school – work overseas, save and open a small business. But life has a funny way of telling you that it is not for, not now at least. I was denied visa from several countries 5 times which broke my heart heavily - with the controversy in the Philippine Immigration lately, I said to myself – not now.

Today, as I take the reins of power of JCI Mandaue, I take it with awe and trepidation. I take this with the vastness of authority it accompanies and the responsibility that goes with it.

Let me thank first those who helped get me here - while I can't thank each of you individually in words, I do so in my heart.

Tonight’s ceremony never fails to impress – 60 years of unbroken line of great leaders, the BOD is invested to take care of the members entrusted to them and the community we so love to serve – with the principal responsibility of developing future leaders not just in our organization but the communities as well.

I will speak plainly and frankly, when I will step down a year from now this will be my 5-point agenda.

PEOPLE. I envision a more dynamic organization where each is developed into leader anchored on the values, we believed in. An organization that puts the welfare of its members on the forefront without compromising the diversity of our organization.

PROGRAMS. We will develop programs that will cater to the diverse needs of our members. With the community at the heart of what we do, we will be relentless in pursuing the needs of our communities ensuring that sustainable projects are implemented.

PROCESS. Internally, I will make sure that we establish a more defined roles and how each office interacts with each other. We will establish a more robust internal process by cutting on “red tapes” and making the JCI Experience Merrier.

PARTNERS. We will strengthen our sisterhood agreements with different local JCI Organizations so we can benchmark the best practices and learn from each other. I will also make sure that we will continue to partner with the various government and non-government organizations that will mutually benefitting. I will make sure that we can maximize the strength of each partner so we can serve the community better.

PROMOTION. I am happy to inform everyone that we are launching a publication of JCI Mandaue this year. We will also strengthen our digital presence to reach more people so they get to be informed of what we stand for.

But for me to do all these, I need you. I cannot do these alone. Whatever we decide to do, let us do it with our communities in mind.

I will need very single JCI Mandaue Member to come together, get involved and bind our strengths to be a formidable team.

Guided by the tenets of JCI and the wisdom of those who led before me, I am with great resolve that with our hearts at the center of what we do, we will be able to achieve things far beyond what we have imagined.

I am looking forward to a great and wonderful JCI Journey with you my brothers.

Challenges become easy when we work together, help each other and complement each other. The JCI journey continues, the embers lit 60 years ago has long gone but the fire it started burned in every JCI Mandaue Member.

Now, is our time to march forward as one. I seek your wisdom and I trust in your commitment to the common good, to the swift actions you will take.

And finally, I challenge myself and the entire JCI Mandaue to live up to the highest standards of SERVICE.

United, how can we lose? Together, we will prevail!

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. If you want to GO FAST and FAR, GO BEYOND!