(For the Vocational Service Program of the Rotary Clubs)

The Rotary Club of Manila (RCM), the First in Asia, has established the Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano Memorial Fund for Justice in order to be able to perpetuate its Commitment to Justice Annual Awards which it launched this Rotary Year.

The Club will sincerely appreciate support and assistance from all sectors, particularly the other Rotary Clubs in the country, by way of donation to the Fund. In line with this objective, the Club will conduct a Nationwide Raffle to build the Fund. It will be held toward the end of this Rotary Year in May or June, to be announced later.

To participate, simply deposit the amount you wish to donate in the minimum sum of P500.00 in any Branch of the Bank of the Philippine Islands anywhere in the Philippines into Current Account No. 0421-0220-46 in the name of the Rotary Club of Manila (Fund for Justice). Place your name and contact number in the duplicate deposit slip. and inform RCM accordingly by phone, fax or email. Fill up the attached form titled Donation Agreement and send the duplicate to RCM. The person or club who makes the donation will be entitled to participate in the raffle. But the deposit slip must be in the physical possession of the winner to claim any prize.

The top raffle prize is P200.000.00 with two plane tickets, round trip, to Hong Kong with free passes to Hong Kong Disneyland. Secondary prizes will be ten pieces of merchandise ranging from a computer to a refrigerator to a camera and a cellphone.

Any Rotary Club in the country that submits raffle deposits, properly validated, will be entitled to 20% share of its deposits which the club can use in its own projects. Its participation in this project can be part of its vocational service. Only Rotary Clubs, however, will enjoy the 20% share. But anyone who makes a raffle deposit can have it accredited to a particular Rotary Club.

The value of these Awards to the judicial system and the country cannot be gainsaid. Delay in resolving cases results in millions of pesos worth of losses in delayed business and development projects and in the grave social and economic consequences to the poor who suffer most because of delayed justice. Speedy justice, on the other hand, means a reduction of the cost of doing business and facilitation of project development as well as a great benefit to the poor and society in general with a faster resolution of cases. The cry for justice remains eternal in the human breast. More than that is the universal craving for a just, speedy and inexpensive dispensation of justice which is the enormous challenge we are boldly taking up.

Any help that can be given to boost this project, will be gratefully appreciated and expressly acknowledged.

Please direct all inquiries or address any communications on the matter to the RCM Secretariat or Rtn. Fortunato "Tito" Gupit, Jr. Past President and Chair, Commitment to Justice Annual Awards Committee, Rotary Club of Manila.