RY 1990-1991 made itself felt with a great tremor, literally —a 7.8 magnitude quake epicentered in Nueva Ecija, with power radiating northward to the Cordilleras, eastward to Aurora, and southward to Metro Manila. It struck with shocking force, toppling buildings, collapsing bridges and causing landslides that blocked access to many place to ring in destruction, disease, and death. It was a dramatic, if tragic, welcome for the Club’s 25th charter anniversary year under Pres. Teodoro “Ted” Borlongan.
One of the places bent and broken by the massive shaking was Bauang, La Union, where a brother club, RC Bauang, was based. When Bauang Rotarians sent a S.O.S. to the Club, Pres. Ted, fully aware of the urgency in the appeal, immediately organized a fitting response. On top of a move to fill immediate needs for food, medicine, personal hygiene items, clothes, blankets and mats, the Club turned to addressing a longer-range but no less urgent need by undertaking the reconstruction of a school building in Brgy. Pilar that had been badly damaged by the quake.
On the home front, the Club intensified the operations of the MRTC with financial injections from the Club and technical support from the Ayala Foundation, Phil. Computer Society, and a new partner, Systems Technology Inc.(STI). Offerings that year included the Information Technology Outreach Program, a 5-month computer course, a high-speed sewing class, and short courses in baking, cooking, food preservation, and various types of body massage.
The Club also donated P520,000 worth of TB medicine to the Makati Medical Center for its TB Control Project in Brgy. Singkamas and distributed over 900,000 books to schools across the country under BATS.
Under the Brother Clubs Committee, the Club entered into a matched-clubs relationship with RC Davao, its first with a club in Mindanao. It also exercised its skill at planning and flexed its event organizing muscles by hosting the Asia Workshop under World Community Service, which assembled over a hundred Rotarians from six countries in Asia.
The Club made up for the year’s heart-rending start in mid-July with a bright climax leading up to the end of the year –the grand Silver Anniversary Ball in celebration of the Club’s 25th Charter Anniversary in March 1991. This felicitous occasion, a high point in Club history, was announced to the public with a full-page advertorial in major broadsheets that featured a bullet-point presentation of the Club’s major accomplishments since 1966.