Board of Directors meeting, 7 Nov 2008

MEKONG CIRCLE INTERNATIONAL

Minutes of the Board of Directors’ Meeting

7 November 2008

1. The biennial meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) of Mekong Circle International was held on Friday, 7 November 2008 at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Makati, Philippines, site of the Seventh MCI reunion.

2. Board Chairman Pete Fuentecilla presided over the meeting, while Board member Ciony Ljungar was the note-taker. Other Board members in attendance were: Angie Angelo, Pol Custodio, Dr. Raul de Jesus, Red del Rosario, Bik Marquez, Domeng Menguito, Fidel Padayao and B J Reyes. Also present was Tony Victa, as an independent observer.

3. The minutes of the 6 August 2006 meeting was read and approved.

4. The Treasurer reported that the organization has a fund balance of $3,697.26 as of 31 October 2008, broken down as follows:

General Fund $ 594.26

Scholarship Project 1,980.00

Midwest/Chicago Account 723.00

Philippine Account 400.00

TOTAL $3,697.26



5. Major Activities for 2006-2008 were summarized as follows:

a) 6th MCI reunion: The 6th MCI reunion, which was hosted by Florida, was held on 11-14 August 2006 in Orlando and on board the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship. There were 179 reunion registrants that sailed to the Bahamas. Seven other MCI members, who did not join the cruise, attended the pre-cruise reception at the Florida Hotel.

b) First general fund raising: In 2006, MCI received $2,570.00 as a result of the first general fund raising event. Prior to 2006, fund raising events became necessary due to nature’s catastrophic phenomena such as the Katrina Hurricane victims in Louisiana, USA and the mudslide victims in Barangay Guisagon, St. Bernard, Leyte, Philippines where 1112 villagers were killed.

c) International conference on Lao studies: MCI members Pete Fuentecilla and Penny Flores were among the 225 participants from around the world that attended the International conference on Lao studies on 3-7 May 2007 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Information about Mekong Circle International was presented and discussed at the conference. As a result of MCI’s participation at the conference, the Asian libraries of Yale University and University of Wisconsin in Madison have requested copies of our newsletters, photographs and reunion journals. Scholars can now access MCI’s past and current histories.

d) Iskolars ng Mekong: The scholarship project of Mekong Circle, which was launched in 2003, received a donation of $2,500.00 for the school year 2008-2009. The recipients of the scholarship funds are college-enrolled women that are economically disadvantaged and from troubled family backgrounds, that stay at a dormitory managed by nuns of Tahanang Paghubog Mother Bonifacia in Cubao, Quezon City. So far, we have had 16 scholars and have given the project a total donation of $10,500.00.

e) Publications: Mekong Circle has published 18 newsletters that started in March 2002. It was initially a 4-page newsletter to inform members about the reunion. Later, it became a 10-page plus newsletter and settled into a format that combines news, history, first-person accounts, reunion updates, etc. Since its last issue in December 2007, the newsletter has not been published due to lack of funds.

f) Digital community: In addition to the newsletters, MCI members can get information about the organization from its web site - www.mekongcircle.org - now on its 6th year of operation. Members can also register on this site or get in touch with “long lost ex-Laos friends”.

g) 7th International reunion: For the first time in the history of Mekong Circle, the 7th reunion was held outside the USA. Hosted by Mekong Circle Philippines, the reunion was held at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Makati.

h) Return to Laos: For the second time since our 1975 exodus, 27 MCI members had returned to Laos for a 5-day adventure from 12 to 16 November 2008. The trip included an excursion into caves, visit to the weird markets of Luang Prabang and observed part of the That Luang festival. About 20 Lao ex-OB members joined the adventure. The first visit to Laos by 17 MCI members was in 2002.

6. New Business

Tony Victa, who is an incorporator and former treasurer of MCI, was invited as an independent observer and to oversee the election of the new BOD for the year 2008-2010, which result is as follows:

a) The BOD members that resigned or had not been re-elected or had died were:

Pol Custodio
Dr. Pete Gonzales
Fred Mendoza
Domeng Menguito
Sounthaly Lapitan
Vitoy Naranjo - deceased

b) The BOD members that were either elected or re-elected for the period 2008-2010:

West Coast: Bik Marquez, Fidel Padayao, Mario Morales (new), Pat Gonzales (new)

Texas: Angie Angelo

Midwest/Chicago: Dr. Raul de Jesus, Dr. Pete Paluay

East Coast: Tony Sazon, Red del Rosario, Pete Fuentecilla

Canada: Ciony Ljungar

Philippines: Sonia Ballo (new), Jovit Revilla (new), Gene San Juan (new)

Lao: Sam Malaythong (new)

Next Generation: B.J. Reyes, Dominic Menguito (new)

The board decided to elect two directors from the 2nd generation with the hope that these BOD members would campaign from their group for increased participation in the MCI activities.

7. Officers

The new Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the BOD that were elected are:

Chairman Tony Sazon
Vice- Chairman Pat Gonzales

In the absence of Chairman-elect Tony Sazon, the board appointed the following as

Officers of MCI for 2008-2010:

President Pat Gonzales
Vice-President None
Treasurer Bik Marquez
Secretary Dominic Menguito
Information Tech Officer B J Reyes


8. The 8th reunion was discussed and agreed upon that it will be held in 2010 in California. It was suggested that the reunion will be hosted by the Lao group. Should that be the case, Bik Marquez was willing to have the San Francisco and Bay Area Chapters help in the reunion planning. However, Pat Gonzales volunteered to have the reunion held in Southern California.

9. Some proposed projects were discussed as follows:

a) To make a donation to the “Bantay Bata Foundation”. This is a project of Channel 2 or ABS-CBN of the Philippines.

b) To participate in “Gawad Kalinga”, a Philippine-based project that builds houses for low income communities.

These two projects will be discussed further, pending studies and availability of funds.

10. Having no other items to be discussed, the meeting was adjourned in time with the start of the reunion celebration of the evening.


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(Disclaimer: Please note that the minutes are compilation of contributions from Pete Fuentecilla, Bik Marquez, Ciony Ljungar and Dr. Raul de Jesus, who were all present at the above-mentioned meeting. Unfortunately, the notes taken during the meeting got misplaced).


/prdj