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Nashville Rotarians hosts Filipino Rotarians April 21, 2008 - No reporter cited

Terrica Hendrix
Assistant Editor

NASHVILLE – Miles and miles away from home – 8,421.97 miles to be exact – is what a group of Rotarians from the Philippines traveled to visit several Arkansas Rotary clubs.

Nestor Borromeo, Veronica Viniegra, Kathrina Reyes, Rodolfo Calalay and Kristine Marie Guno are members of the Rotary District 3780 in Quezon City and presented their short biographies to the Nashville Rotarians on Wednesday.

The district is one of 10 Rotary districts in the Philippines.

For the 2007-08 Rotary year, there are 91 active Rotary Clubs with more than 2,200 members.

Quezon City is the former capital and the most populous city in the Philippines, according to the Group Study Exchange brochure.

The city was named after Manuel L. Quezon – the former president of the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines.

Team leader Borromeo, who also goes by Chito, is a past president of the Rotary Club of New Manila East, which is an all-male club founded 23 years ago. He has been a Rotarian for 21 years and has served as an officer, director and chairman in different committee works. While president, his club garnered 18 major and minor awards including the Best Rotary Club award in seven categories. Borromeo also received the award for being the most outstanding club president for Rotary Year 2006 –2007.

He is a certified public accountant and is currently with the government as deputy administrator of metropolitan waterworks and sewerage system. Borromeo has been married for 20 years and is the father of six children.

Viniegra has been practicing law in the Philippines for five years. After feeling consumed by extremely long hours of work, unceasing deadlines and regular court hearings, she decided to take things slow and became a legal consultant to the finance secretary.

As a legal consultant, she focuses on government projects and various financing schemes to strengthen the economy.

Just a few months after her new career change, Viniegra (a.k.a. Peachy) was asked to be the chief of staff member of the House of Representatives. She is currently the chief of staff for Congressman Danilo E. Suarez – a seasoned public servant of the country.

Viniegra now handles all legislative and constituent concerns for the congressman.

In addition, she maintains her private practice which includes family, corporate, labor and taxation cases for select clients.

Reyes, also a lawyer, was born to a family of lawyers; both of her parents are lawyers.

She was employed at the only anti-graft court of the Philippines – the Sandiganbayan as court attorney IV. Within a span of a year, she was promoted to court attorney V for having gained recognition for her decisiveness.

Reyes is also a businesswoman. In 2003, she and her friends opened a spa business that caters to the wellness of people with a fast-paced lifestyle.

“The culture is unique is a blend of arts, media and film and video,” she said.
Reyes gave advice on when to visit her country. “The best time is between November and March and avoid visiting in April and May,” due to the climate. She added that the karaoke machine was invented by a Filipino as well as the yo-yo.
She said that she lives by “women of faith, women of action” motto and has a strong faith in God. With her brother’s help, she tries to ease the “plight of the neglected [and] underprivileged, especially the children, by helping them finish their education,” she said.
She spends 90 minutes a day practicing Bikram Yoga.
Calalay is a marketing officer who started working for MIC Holdings Corporation – the marketing arm of Asian Navigation and Tracking Systems.
He is a mass communications graduate in advertising at Lyceum of the Philippines and is now completing his masters degree in business administration at Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
Calalay is a past president of the Rotaract Club of Paraiso, Q.C. and the current district Rotaract Representative of Rotary International District 3780.
Guno is an analyst consultant and a team leader with Accenture, Inc. – a global management consulting and technology service.
While working with Accenture, she has been consulting with one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States, handling development and support work of the complex business billing system.
Guno, who is also called “Kryz,” is involved with accounts receivables, collections, taxing, pricing and non-recurring charges.
She is involved with the Manila Leadership Experience Advancement Program of Accenture and the Quality Action Team Leader of her project and a core group member of the Technology Change Management/Process Change Management group.
She is currently organizing an operation to offer free education to area children.
“Such an opportunity will greatly enhance the existing cordial relations between the Philippines and the United States of America with a long history of mutual cooperation in all aspects of nation building,” Philippines District 3780 Governor Danilo V. Faustino.
Faustino continued, “our ‘ambassadors of goodwill’ will not only enrich themselves of the beautiful experiences while on US soil, but will keep the relations of our countries constantly closer by way of continuing study mission under the Rotary International – sponsored exchange program.”

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