Overflowing with Lions

I had been absent for a long time from a meeting with fellow Lions. Sunday night, I waded into an overflow crowd at the Sugarland Hotel. The crowd was tense and eager. And there was an electric atmosphere of Lions breathlessly waiting for them to burst out into a “Roar”.

It was a preliminary meeting of 19 Lions clubs of District 301-B-1 batting for Ms. Myrna Diaz Servando to be chosen as second governor of the district during the elections of Lions convention in late August, in Iloilo City.

I found myself besieged by beautiful lady lions and was guided readily into the seat intended for members of the Bacolod Capitol Lions Club. There were already there most of my fellow club members, headed by our present president Honorato Tonogbanua and vice president Pons Manayon.

Most of those around the main hall were close friends and often partners in many previous skirmishes for past governors.

What struck me was that this was more of a political campaign. The supporters were all enthusiastic and eager to prove their worth.

And they have the right to do so. There were 19 clubs from all over the district represented there.

At the head of the group was former District Governor Pompeyo Querubin, billed as campaign manager of Myrna Servando. And Tuling Villanueva.

I was surprised by the turnout. There were the clubs from Iloilo – Guimaras. Pototan, Fort San Pedro, Emerald, and a host of others.

So there were also those of Negros Occidental. Sagay Kabingahan, Kabankalan, Sampaguita course, and several other big clubs or the district.

The battle cry was simple – time for us to share the governorship. In short, the governorship of the Lions of the district should not be the preserve of one of the major clubs of Bacolod.

The most impressive was that there were several Leo clubs in the group. Mostly, young people, they looked more like they were oddities in the face of many aging Lions.

I spotted among others. Jimmy Golez of the Silay Lions. Pete Merced and Larry Sarcepuedes, and, yes, of course, going around the floor were Querubin and Villanueva.

I also greeted former District Governor Felipe Lim of the Fort San Pedro Lions I could hardly breath as Tess Yusay, former president of the Sampaguita Lions Club, went out of her way to make my stay comfortable.

I know that many of the new presidents no longer remembered me. Most likely because I had been absent for a long time from meeting of the Council of Past Presidents of the Negros Occidental Lions.

But there were more of my contemporaries, too numerous for me to name all of the them.

But there was nothing that intruded in our reunion. They were just warned as they used to be in the past. Companionship was immediately renewed and memories of the past day remembered.

But what struck me was the presence of a troupe of young La Salle students. They later regaled the audience with an acrobatic presentation that ended up with them emblazoning the hall with the call to vote for Myrna Servando.

Tuting Villanueva mounted the platform and made an impassioned plea to ensure that the governorship be shared with all clubs of the district.

This was greeted with cheers by – the 19 clubs present and their battle cry reverberated through the Sugarland Hotel’s main hall.

The Sampaguita Lions Club members – all beautiful ladies, then mounted the stage and sang a beautiful song calling for us to vote for Myrna. And Pompey elicited cheers when he called the attention of the crowd to the fact that the group of ladies were all “beautiful” to the delight of the male Lions.

It was a meet that did justice to many political parties. There was just more than enough enthusiasm among the participants in the meeting de avance to greet political aspirants.

Querubin recited the many awards received from Lions International by Myrna as part of her credentials for the governorship of the district, although she was just running for second governor. But that was something which thrilled the audience. After all, that is the first step toward the governorship of the District. So that they would actually be voting for the governorship by voting for her Myrna.

The number of clubs vowing to help Myrna was almost one half of the clubs of the district 301-B-1.

I suppose that they served notice to Myrna’s rival that when the time comes for the voting, Myrna is definitely giving them a run for their money.

And when Myrna finally delivered her acceptance speech of caring and sharing with one another their efforts and their commitment to serve, the crowd broke into bedlam.

That, I thought, was a signal that the future was going to be in the hands of a dedicated Lions leader whose characteristics – in the language of Querubin - reflect managerial skills and service beyond self.*

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