Mariquita Castelo award

Soroptimists all over the country are celebrating this year as the 100th birth anniversary of the international organization’s founder, Mariquita S. Castelo. It was she who founded the first Soroptimist Club in the Philippines, then known as the Soroptimist Club of Greater Manila which later became Soroptimist International of Founder Manila. The first club, which was affiliated with the Soroptimist International of the Americas was chartered in Malacañang on May 5, 1966. Soroptimist has now 76 clubs with a total membership of 2,000 professional and businesswomen in the country helping, through special projects, lift the status of young girls and women. These members are living up to the name “Soroptimist,” meaning the “best of women,” or “women at their best helping others to be at their best.”

Mariquita was born on August 30, 1912 in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija. She was the ninth of 11 children of farmer Victor Castelo and Carolina San Vicente. She earned her BS in education at the UP in Manila. After college she returned to Nueva Ecija where she taught English, became the head of its English department and was eventually promoted as English supervisor.

Not only is she associated with Soroptimist. She became the first national professional National Executive of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, elevating girl scouting as a career for women and setting high standards in the recruitment of professional workers. She organized Girl Scout councils and gained tremendous public support for the Girl Scout movement.

To pay tribute to this outstanding woman, Soroptimist International of the Philippines Region, under Gov. Minda Garcia, has launched the Mariquita S. Castelo Leadership Award (MSCLA). The award entitles all Soroptimist clubs in the country to nominate their candidate. The nominee must be a role model, must have received other leadership/service awards from her community, school, church, company and other professional organizations. She must have engaged in volunteer service for at least ten years, and must have initiated a program consistent with the advocacies of Soroptimist that improved women’s lives.

The winning nominee will receive her award on August 30, 2013.

Mention must be made of Mariquita’s having received many awards and tributes. Among those are a book written by past Gov. Tes B. Choa, entitled Memory Lane, and a biography, Mariquita S. Castelo, Making a Difference in the Lives of Filipino Girls and Women by Yolanda Canseco Hernandez. Also, under Choa’s term, the Mariquita S. Castelo Community Service Award was launched to look for a woman whose life and work reflected the ideals that Castelo stood for. The winner, Carmelita Ramos Cruz from Pandi, Bulacan, is a self-made entrepreneur who started out as a dressmaker. Cruz became a success, and she continues today to share her resources, time and talent with the poor of her community.

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On June 21, officers and directors of Soroptimist International of Makati were installed at One Rockwell East Tower, Makati. The charging officer was incoming district director 2012-2014 Enriqueta Doble, and administering the oath of office to the incoming officers was Governor for 2012-2014 Minda A. Garcia.

Visitacion (Bessie) G. Escalona leads the new officers of SI Makati. Owner of a travel agency, she is doing projects to enable and to empower women and girls through education. She says, “We hope to provide scholarships to deserving high school graduates in our adopted barangay - those who do not have the financial capabilities through a vocational and technical skills program. Doing this will enable them to better their own lives and their families as well.”

Also taking their oath on July 1 were president-elect Teresita Gonzalez and officers Imelda Vibar, Elizabeth Cristobal, Lucy Ang, Cynthia de Dios, Amalia Bernardino, Ma. Rosario Tumaneng and Nenita Gazmin, and directors Teresita B. Choa, Milagros del Rosario, Nadine Gustilo, Rebecca Kalaw, Celestina Ng, Clarita Ordonez, Nilda Rotor, Ligaya Tankeh, Aida Tieng, Mimi Noble, and Villa Granada de Guia (charter president of Makati).

Minda Acacio Garcia of Soroptimist International of Founder Manila (SIFM) was installed as the new governor or Soroptimist International of the Philippines Region (SIPR) in an oath-taking ceremony administered by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales at Unilab Bayanihan Hall in Pasig City.

Soroptimist, meaning “best of women,” is an apt title for Minda who is the first Filipina to be elected as Fund Development Council member of Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA) in 2006.

Minda became a Soroptimist in 1998, and later became president of Soroptimist International of Founder Manila. It was during her term (2004-2006) when the club put up a computer literacy program that benefited out-of-school girls and women in a Barangay in Sta. Ana, Manila.

One of the signature programs that Minda helped conceptualize which was initiated by SI Phil Region is the “Making a Difference for Women Award.”

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That Iloilo City can be “The Premier City of the South” is the spirit that moves the Iloilo Cultural Heritage Foundation, Inc. (CHFI) to engage in the restoration of “Calle Real,” the city’s Central Business District (CBD). Organized last year, CHFI’s mission and vision are based on the firm belief that Calle Real and its 1920s-1930s buildings, when regenerated, are an economic resource for the city. The foundation aims to restore the facades of Calle Real’s vintage buildings to their old glory, salvage and recapture the Ilonggo’s heritage, put the city on the list of heritage cities, and transform it into an attractive tourist destination with the attendant economic benefits.

The foundation has already completed the restoration of the façade of Serafin Villaneva building on J. M. Basa, cor. Arsenal streets, courtesy of generous Ilonggo donors. Rizal Commercial and Banking Corporation (RCBC) spent for the restoration of its building and sidewalks across the street from the Serafin Villaneva building. Former Prime Minister Cesar E. A. Virata presented and promoted the project to RCBC, and Vicky Jarantilla, bank manager, supported the project enthusiastically. The two restored buildings facing each other make the corner of J.M. Basa & Arsenal streets now one of the loveliest spots on Calle Real.

Owners of several other buildings have also agreed to restore their buildings in cooperation with CHFI.

If the foundation’s vision for this area would come true, a “Heritage Café would be opened in the Villanueva building. Plans are in the works for the restoration of the hundred-year-old Marquez-Lim “balay na bato,” and the very old abaca factory which will exhibit its processes and products.

The restoration project, when completed, will be a source of great economic opportunity for Iloilo, says Manuel E. Villa, Jr., CHFI president. He cites as tourist attraction models which Calle Real can emulate, those of Vigan’s Bahay na Bato street, and Bohol’s restored old churches and museum of old santos and other religious antiques. Manny points to areas of interest in other parts of the world, such as Germany’s Nuremberg and ts old city district, Rothenburg, a preserved medieval city in its entirety; the Chinatown Heritage Center at Pagoda St. in Singapore which occupies three shop houses which were restored to house memories of Singapore’s ancestors, and New Orleans’ French Quarter.

The complete restoration of Calle Real will be made possible by donations to the foundation. For inquiries and personal explanations of the project, e-mail [email protected].

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