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PRESIDENT M. A. T. CAPARAS
 Mateo
Armando Tengco Caparas was born on 28 December, 1923 at Cuyapo in the Philippines.
His father, a lawyer, eventually settled on the family farm in Moncardo in the province of Tarlac.
His education, after he finished his secondary schooling at Bulacan High School in 1940, was interrupted by the Second World War.
He graduated from the University of the Philippines’ College of Law in 1949, and received his Master of Laws from the Harvard
Law School in 1950.
He returned to Caloocan, the city adjoining Manila to the north, to specialise in labour-law practice and tax cases.
He joined the Rotary Club of Caloocan as a Charter Member in 1959 and became its President in 1962-63.
He has served as a District Governor in 1964-65, as a Director and Vice-President of Rotary International, and as a Trustee of
the Rotary Foundation.
In 1980, after he transferred his law practice into Manila, he was invited to be a member of “the first Rotary club in Asia”,
Manila, chartered in 1919.
Caparas is the First and Only Filipino to become President of Rotary International. His term of
office was from 1986-87 with the Rotary theme: ROTARY BRINGS HOPE.
A small selection of notes about his many visits to Rotary Clubs around the world -
INDIA - The Rotary club of Bhubaneswar, Orissa, hosted an Inter-city/Inter-district meeting on 15 January 1987 when Caparas
and Rotaryanne Nita Caparas, along with Past R.I. Director Rtn. R.K. Saboo (R.I. President (1991-92) participated in the
meeting and offered a rare opportunity for the club to host an R.I. President.
U.S.A. - As Past President, Caparas was a guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Rancho Del Chino, California on 16 October 2007.
U.S.A. - Caparas was a guest of Culver City Rotary at Rotary Plaza, California in 1986.
In 1985, Caparas, as RI President-elect, introduced the Rotary Community Corps program which was adopted by the RI
Board of Directors in 1988.
The "RCC" was envisioned as an organization of community members who wish to improve the places where they live or work.
One of the first RCC projects witnessed by Caparas was a water well in Cagayan de Oro, in the big island of Mindanao, southern
Philippines.
When the water started flowing, there were tears in the eyes of women in the community; they no longer had to carry water buckets
up a hill to their homes!
— Jun Tambunting, Past District Governor.
Like all Rotary International Presidents, Caparas made many memorable
speeches at conventions, meetings and other gatherings around the world.
This is one of his more memorable speeches delivered at the Asian Presidential Conference held at Taipeh on 23 March 2002
entitled "THE FUTURE OF ROTARY IN ASIA".
"I am tasked to talk of the future of Rotary in Asia. That is the same task I had at the Presidential
Conference in Manila last year. The prediction it contained would still be timely because there has not been enough time for
it to be fulfilled. Two important events that have occurred in the meantime could impact on Rotary development and alter
that forecast, but I am still inclined to paint again this year the same rosy picture that I painted last year. In short,
Rotary is doing quite well in Asia, and it will continue to do well in the foreseeable future because of the conditions in
Asia that make it a very fertile area for Rotary development.
One reason for my optimism is the fact that we continue to be represented extremely well in the upper echelons of the
organization. Last year, we had two R.I. directors from Asia, and two Asian trustees of the foundation. The situation
is even better this year, when we have five Asian directors, including the vice- president and the president-elect.
In addition, the same general secretary, who is an American of Asian descent, continues in that office. Obviously, Asia
enjoys adequate patronage and support from the top.
Another reason for optimism is past performance, which usually gives a very good indication of how an organization
will perform in the near future. Well, the past growth of Rotary in our area has been nothing short of incredible.
Even more important is that it is a growth that has been sustained over a period of time, and is not just an accident of
recent developments. Let us view that past briefly.
When I was governor in 1964-65 of one of two districts in the Philippines, my district had only 27 clubs, but
that one district has grown today to 7 districts with 504 clubs. The other district did not grow as prodigiously, but
it did grow to the present 3 districts that embrace a total of 174 clubs. Those are remarkable numbers, but they are
matched and even excelled in the countries around us. Thus, when President-Elect Bhichai served as governor in 1963-64, he had a district
that included seven countries, three of which were at war. That war worsened and continued for a long time afterwards, but,
in spite of it, there are now 6 districts from that original lone district: 4 in Thailand, and 2 in Malaysia, Singapore, and
Brunei. There is, in addition, one district in Indonesia, composed of 79 clubs.
As for Taiwan, there was only one district in all of Taiwan when I first came here in 1963, and that lone district
included the clubs in Hong Kong and Macau. Then in 1986, when Vice-President Gary was governor, that lone district had grown
to three, but Gary's district then still included the clubs in Hong Kong and Macau. Now, there are 7 districts with 419 clubs
in Taiwan alone, and Hong Kong/Macau have their own separate district with 49 clubs.
Perhaps the most phenomenal development took place in Korea. The first time I went to Seoul to represent the President in
1967 or 68, there was also only one district in entire South Korea. How many districts are there now in the country? 17
districts, with 1,088 clubs.
Perhaps not as enormous, but at least as impressive, was the development in those two huge Rotary countries - India and
Japan. I still remember going to my first institute in New Delhi, when India had 12 districts that were already bursting
at the seams. Now, it has 35 districts which, together with one district each for Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh,
embrace 2,922 clubs. And as for Japan, my figures show 35 districts and 1459 clubs, but with more than 100,000 members.
We may expect that the momentum of extension that has been building up over the years with such numbers will push
membership development in Asia for quite a long while. This is because these impressive membership figures are matched by
correspondingly impressive Rotary service. One can indeed make the point that the members are so many because the
service they render are so plentiful and so good. For service that is truly worth doing is an irresistible invitation to Rotary
membership.
We count on the power of that invitation to counter the negative effect of the two recent international developments
I referred to before -- the world-wide economic recession and September 11. The first threw millions out of work and depressed
the conditions of life for almost all people, and the second horribly cast a pall of woe and insecurity on all human
activity. Their negative impact cannot be ignored or dismissed lightly. Occurring as they did at a time when Rotary
membership growth had started to falter, those twin events could truly cause much concern. Fortunately, however, they
occurred at exactly the time when the organization had been gearing for an epoch-making drive for membership, motivated and
spurred on by a President most suited from past experience for exactly that kind of drive.
That business-oriented drive for new quality members and the retention of the good ones that we already have, is the
Global Quest. It fortunately came at just the right time for us. I am therefore glad that all of us in the entire organization
are now so actively involved and engaged in it. The quest has already begun to bear fruit, and I am sure you yourselves are
witnesses to some of those. I ask you now to participate fully here in the scheduled discussions about it so that you
may help correct what you may perceive to be its shortcomings, and perhaps inspire the rest of us with the successes that
you have already attained.
This optimistic prediction about the future of Rotary in Asia is justified by the situation of Asia itself. We are in
the exact place on earth where Rotary service can do a world of good to the greatest number of people. Think of any kind of
service or act that a Rotarian or a Rotary club can do, and you will find great need for it in many places here. Any one who
has capability to give assistance to the needy and to enrich the lives of the desperate need only look around to find numerous
opportunities for doing so. He would be like the farmer who was asked by a young social worker what time he went to work.
"Go to work?" the farmer replied, "I do not go to work. I wake up in the morning and all my work is right here
all around me."
To the extent that the recession and global terrorism increased the roster of the unemployed and generally swelled the
ranks of the poor, those twin disasters could even be regarded as factors favorable to Rotary extension. We should act
on them as such, for those who needed our help during better times need our help even more during these bad times, and many
who did not need help before the recession will need it now.
The drive for Rotary members is therefore really a search for additional helping hands. Those hands will be found despite
the recession, and many of them will be those who have also been hit by it. For the surprising truth is that those most ready
to give help are those who barely have more than they need. They show that nobility is not the monopoly of the rich. But
that does not mean that the affluent do not give help, for they certainly do! The Rotarians of the more affluent Asian
nations, and they are represented here, have been truly generous in helping their Asian neighbors. And those whom they have
helped are truly thankful. We recognize the fact that those who most readily join our ranks and help are the high-minded
people who, rich or not, cannot bear the sight of suffering and are impelled to relieve it. In Asia, we have many of them,
and that is why Asian Rotary will continue to be strong.
Asia is unbelievable for the great amount of good that Rotary can do here, and the great number of people still available
for enlistment in its work. Many of them are already engaged in some form of service or other; they need not be told of the
happiness that comes from helping others. We only need to convince them that, in Rotary, they will find the most number and
the best ways to serve for the greatest good. We credit the Global Quest for the tools to effect that persuasion. I may
note, however, with no slight intended, that the sophisticated appeal of the Quest, its beautiful brochures and powerful
message could perhaps be a bit of an overkill here and would probably be used more profitably in other places where the
need for Rotary service is not so stark.
What Rotarians and prospective Rotarians here do need are material resources to make the help they extend concrete and
effective. To borrow P.P. Frank Devlyn's favorite word, a proactive, dynamic WCS program, together with amply funded 3-H
and Matching Grants programs, will boost the global quest here like no other. The Rotarians of the region do what
they can, but the needs are so great that they simply cannot cope. Assistance from overseas greatly help them to help the poor.
What is perhaps even more significant is that such third party assistance confirms the worth of what they are doing,
and thus re-enforces their commitment, and inspires and encourages them to do more.
I have to say that we have regularly been dismayed by the early exhaustion of the matching grants budget every year, I
hope that problem will be solved, and not just by making it difficult to get a grant. The program is very much liked by
Rotarians, and for good reason - their money goes to where it is really needed. That is a connection that that
they do not always see in some other programs. It is particularly difficult to understand why this program in which
money is in such demand is denied money that is made available instead to some high ticket program that actually requires a
high power publicity campaign to sell to the Rotary world. We need to see disbursement of the poor peoples' contributions to
aid the poor. If we see that in these hard timers, even the poor will be willing to sacrifice more.
What they do not need are discouraging irritations that come from the mindless mishandling of matters affecting their
commitment. Unreasoned insistence on irrelevant and unnecessary requirements and procedures, as well as practices that impede
their delivery of help turn off Rotarians and can even ultimately lead them to resign. It is in this respect that
we need the understanding and help of our top leadership who know the circumstances under which we operate, and can
protect us from unconscious put downs and unthinking impositions.
Let me quickly give some examples. One is the compulsory change of the name of the RVC, a name that had been widely
accepted in Asia. Its original constitutional documents said the organization could be called by any other name preferred by
the members, and some early ones were actually called Rotary Community Club. In Spanish-speaking countries, it is called Grupos
de Fomento Vecinal. But now it must be called Rotary Community Corps, and no other, at least in English speaking regions.
Why? Because, I understand, the word "village" is not favored in many parts of the world. Never mind that no
RVC will be organized in those parts, no matter what name it may be called. But the Rotarians in Asia have had to go to the
trouble of assuring their client RVCs that the RCC is the same banana and will be just as good. I cannot stop them from
blaming the snooty guys in Evanston who look down on us village folks.
Then there is the closing of the service center in Manila and the transfer of its work to Australia. One reason given for
it was to economize. If the design was to cut expenses by stopping service to the Philippine clubs, closing the center
would certainly do it. But if the plan contemplated giving them equivalent service, there is no place in the Rotary world
where the service done in Manila can be done at less expense. It is just that plain and simple, as borne out by the record of
expenses of all the branches.
Another reason given is that centralizing the secretariat work to faraway Australia would make service to Philippine
clubs more efficient. I do not know how it can be seriously claimed, without going into racial differences, that Philippine
clubs would be served less efficiently by an office next door than by one in a foreign country that is hundreds of
miles away down under. Experience has so far shown the contrary.
For instance, I understand three Philippine clubs with bank proof of remittance have been delisted at Parramata for
non-payment of dues. And another club that has lost members is continually being charged for the dues of the members that it
has lost and duly dropped from its roster. Both cases came I am sure from minor errors that took much longer than necessary
to iron out because English is not our native language, and we have to deal with an unfamiliar version of it.
Quicker solution without rancor would certainly have been found in the Manila service center.
These examples are just minor irritants that should not really affect the drive for members. But they do cause
considerable disquiet among those affected. They say a change of brand name, and especially a change of place of business,
are not done by good businesses except for good reason. They see no valid reason for these recent changes, and they ask
themselves why they are dealt such gratuitous inconveniences. Such is the effect of those minor irritants. If re-enforced
or permitted to continue without redress, they can lead the inscrutable but ever scrutinizing Asian mind to suspect that
Asia is regarded too slightly, and its preferences blithely disregarded in upper Rotary circles. To that extent, they cause
concern among the leadership of the region.
It is therefore of some comfort to us that we have on the board and with the trustees some eminent members from our
ranks who can voice our concerns and predilections. We thank all of them, past and current, who have served with great
distinction, despite difficulty of language sometimes that might have hampered them from doing as much as they
wanted. To the end that such excellent service would continue, and perhaps get even better, I think we owe it to our
general officers to help them anyway we can in communicating our concerns, and in formulating the proposals for action that
can address them.
It will, I think, be helpful if the council or college of governors in each of all our districts would regularly meet
and draft advisory materials and position papers for use of our directors and trustees at board and trustees meetings. They
may of course use or not use those papers as they please. But I am sure they will find them useful in case of need.
And when such practice becomes routine, the board and the trustees will, I hope, view such papers, when presented by a
director or a trustee, as expressing the view not only of the person who presents it but also of the entire area from which
it comes, and thus deserving of attention as such. Let us hope that, expressed in that way, our views even on world topics may
carry more persuasion.
Let me cite just one more concern arising from language difficulty - that of the presidential representative to district
conferences. There is no doubt that representatives from foreign countries give conferences welcome international flavor,
and most districts are happy to have them. Even if they do not speak the local language, they are usually received
enthusiastically by the districts that look forward to introduction or better acquaintance with the cultures they represent.
But it goes without saying that a foreign representative brings an extra element of anxiety, which he or she should do his or
her best to minimize with all acts of courteous and helpful cooperation before, during, and after the conference.
Not all, unfortunately, have been as conscientious, and that is why I mention it here with the suggestion that the matter
receive especial attention.
In the choice of representatives to foreign districts, if the representative does not speak the local language, he or she
should have other qualities that compensate for the difficulty. He should receive full information on the especial demands of
the assignment, the preparation for it that he needs to make, and the various kinds of communication equipment that he or
she may need or want to bring along.
And, in any case, I suggest that districts be spared the fate of entertaining two or three times in succession representatives
who do not speak their language and are not too enthusiastic about bridging the communication gap.
The conference, in that case, will not be a helpful place in which to instruct and inspire new Rotarians.
I close with the assurance that Rotary will continue to grow in Asia, despite these minor irritations that I have
mentioned so as to temper my optimism about the future.
But let me first congratulate everyone of you here for your interest in the global quest and the extension of Rotary.
The growth in the region that I have tried to detail here have been greatly due to your efforts, and I thank you.
I may make especial mention of the help of our friends from Japan, Korea and Taiwan. They have been generous in supporting
the efforts of their less affluent neighbors in alleviating the condition of the poor. They thus gave inspiration for Rotary
growth. But we must recognize the extraordinary merit of the assistance given by those struggling with their own lack of
means. They are those who goad us to redouble our own efforts and assure a glorious future for Rotary here, The recession and
September 11 may have diminished the capability of some of our givers, but not our desire to help. We are ready as ever to
help others because we know they need our help, and our own happiness depends on theirs. Truly, their happiness is our business."
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