PRESIDENT'S REPORT
From:
up-beta-sigma-international@googlegroups.com
<up-beta-sigma-international@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Noli Nolasco
<nolihnolasco@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 4:31
PM
To: International;
2016-18-bod-up-beta-sigma-international@googlegroups.com
Subject: Annual Report
U.P. BETA SIGMA INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S
REPORT
The Year 2016 was a very good year for our UP Beta
Sigma Fraternity. We celebrated our Platinum Year with a lot of pomp and class,
with all hands on deck. UP Beta Sigma International got itself back on
performing mode after some avoidable, unwarranted trials in the previous year.
We should, therefore, celebrate this as yet another glorious victory for our
Brotherhood.
In 2016, UP Beta Sigma International was able to
permanently avoid a $1,000 per year assessment that had been an annual burden
since our founding year. In spite of some misguided efforts to derail the move
towards the transformation of UP Beta Sigma Fraternity International into an
association status, Dr. Alfred Aquino, DVM aka Nong Fred, put in a lot of hard
work and skillful negotiations with the government of California that finally
resulted in the position that we now currently enjoy.
This landmark transformation has also enabled
UPBS-International to reduce annual fees from $25 per annum to only $15 per
annum, and if paying in the Philippines, from P1,000 to only P500. I believe
these new annual membership dues are now within reach to every Brod, no matter
what his station in life is. Because it is so affordable, many have decided to
send in multiple years to as many as 4-10 years equivalent. (See attachment).
HOWEVER, since we have just entered a new year, many
of us need to renew our membership fees. I strongly encourage everyone to read
the attachment and see whether you are now due for renewal of your active
membership. Like many of us, everyone is encouraged to pay multiple years to
avoid frequent reminders of payment.
The significant reduction in fees have also resulted
in MORE MONEY IN OUR COFFERS (please see Attached) mainly due to the following:
(a) A remarkable increase in our membership that we now enjoy a record number
since our founding year; (b) As in previous years’ practices, all disbursements
are within allowable limits and in line with our mission and vision; (c) There
had been many generous donors that supported UPBSI project expenses. When
monetized, such donations came out to more than $3,000. These are as follows:
-- Attendance of some resident brods and LCs
during our Platinum Anniversary Ball;
-- Sponsorship of the grand Welcome Dinner at
the Valley Golf and Country Club;
-- Sponsorship of the prize for the winner of
the golf tournament;
-- Providing T-shirts to all resident brods in
UP Diliman, UP Los Banos, UP Baguio, UP Visayas, and UP Mindanao;
-- UPBSI Souvenir Page and a giant 25-foot
UPBSI banner – which means that even these expense were donated and were not
taken out of our coffers; and
-- Partial funding of the residents workshop
participated by representative brods from all our UP campuses.
We are also a recipient of a ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND
(P100,000) donation from Brod Mayor Amado “Lito” Tadena. Brod Lito wrote that he
could even increase the amount for worthy and impactful projects in the future.
At this time, this amount remains intact and the plan is to decide on a project
or projects to conduct from this amount on or before our 71st Anniversary
Fraternity Ball this coming July.
For details on our finances, please see attached
Financial Statements.
The large amount of balance in our finances is indeed
good news. This means that our residents, together with their respective campus
BOD-Ninongs, will have to keep evolving worthwhile projects that will
significantly increase our stature in our UP campuses. Withdrawals against our
funds have been excruciatingly slow towards the last quarter of last year
because of the absence of proposals worthy of approval by the UPBSI-Board of
Directors.
To enhance our financial controls, UPBS-International
and the Operation Big Brother Foundation (OBBF) is entering into a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) for the latter to keep and maintain the UPBSI account in the
Philippines. The current practice is that funds reaching the Philippines is
under a private account.
Our website name has likewise been renamed from
www.upbsfi.org to www.upbsi.org in order to be consistent with our new name.
Webmaster Norman Bituin and Website Coordinator Willie “Tatang” Vergara thank
all the contributors who have been sending updates over the years. Our website
was established in 2001 and it continues to be going strong with almost 106,000
hits to date.
Our Directory Project is moving along too. UPBSI
Directory Project Manager Brod Edwin Acuna has linked up with Brod Mars Robosa
that will result in a directory larger in scope compared to the original plan of
limiting this to UP Brods. Brod Edwin has also previously been in touch with
Brod Dutch Aragones for the Los Banos portion as well as the representative of
many areas around the world. I am currently vetting on some proposals/ideas on
how we will proceed from here, with the usual consultation with our Central HQ.
Earlier in the year, I continued to be a hold-over
(Acting) President until March, upon our approval as Association. Thereon, I
turned over the cudgels to an Organizing Council composed of volunteers from
different part of the world. They are:
- Acuna, Edwin 'D76d (Alberta, Canada)
- Aquino, Fred 'D57 (Northern California)
- Alo, Miguel Gerard 'D03a (Philippines)
- Antonio, Roy 'D77 (Southern California)
- Araneta, Ike 'D71(Northern California)
- Arceo, Edsel 'D73 (Southern California)
- Bituin Norman 'D65 (Southern California)
- Carolino, Aman 'D71 (Southern California)
- Casaclang, Manny 'D84 (Texas)
- Castaneda, James 'D87 (Philadelphia)
- Dogwe, Alexis 'D06b (Philippines)
- Evangelista, Ronald Jamsey 'D84 (Southern
California)
- Galoso, Dan 'D65 (Southern California)
- Hidalgo, Raffy 'D86 (Philippines)
- Igot, Ernie ' D70 (Virginia)
- Lalas, Joe 'D69c (Southern California)
- Liggayu, Rudy 'LB83 (Canada)
- Nolasco, Noli 'D62b (Canada)
- Punzalan, Dennis 'LB93 (Canada)
- Rojo, Janus 'LB90a (Canada)
- Si, Danilo 'D08a (Philippines)
- Vergara, Willie Tatang 'D67a (Northern
California)
- Young, Fred 'D66 (Alberta, Canada)
The Organizing Council elected (former) UPBSI
President Edsel Arceo as Chair. Within such a short period, the Organizing
Council was able to accomplish the following milestone points:
-- A new and improved Constitution and By-Laws
that emphasizes, among others, the need to strengthen our brotherhood with the
use of communication tools in today’s cyber age.
-- Guidelines and timeline on the Election of
the Association’s Board of Directors. Election of Dr. Fred Aquino as the
Chairman of the COMELEC.
-- Coordination with Brod Dogs Dogwe and UP
Diliman young alumni as regards recruitment of Diliman. Our UP Diliman numbers,
mainly through the efforts of the youngest residents, have been able
to bring back our numbers from only 13 early in the year to about 24 at year’s
end, processing about 5 small batches.
-- Initial pledges to financially support
recruitment-related projects e.g. T-shirts for residents and Ladies Corps.
-- New ideas generated to bring back our glory
in our campuses – mostly coming from Dan Galoso, Joe Lalas, Ernie Igot and
Tatang Vergara.
-- The Institution of a reduced fee as stated
in the earlier part of this report.
For this year 2017, we hope to do the following:
1. A seminar, or a series of seminars, for our
residents with the purpose of getting each member to be synchronized with the
changing environment in our UP campuses. This started last year with all 5
campuses represented and many alumni brods have proposed that these be made a
regular activity. In fact, some have expressed their willingness to financially
support such a beneficial and worthwhile undertaking.
2. Continuing dialogue within the BOD Ninongs
regarding the design and development of projects that will enhance our
recruitment efforts for new members in all our campuses.
3. More active roles among Ninongs with their
respective campus resident assignments, including more frequent reporting to the
UPBSI-BOD on their progress.
4. In relation to #2 and #3 above, I will be
appointing an Overall Coordinator, who shall regularly report to the BOD.
5. Develop a Code of Ethics among residents in
support of the most recent initiatives of our UPLB Alumni to promote peace and
collaboration with other fraternities of the UP campus.
6. Encouragement of local counterpart guidance and
support as exemplified by UPLB and UPVisayas alumni by way of membership with
UPBS-International.
7. Provide encouragement and support to the UP Beta
Sigma School of Martial Arts.
For a better UP Beta Sigma Fraternity.
Noli H. Nolasco'62B
President, UPBSI
Attachment: Financial Reports
1. Membership Dues 12/31/2017 (in Excel format: there are two tabs: Members12312016 for Membership Dues and CF12312016 for Cash Flow).
2. January 2017 Bank Statement (in PDF format).
Noli speaks before the UP Betan residents
UPBSI Induction and Fellowship Night - Valley Golf, Antipolo, July 15, 2016