ANNOUNCEMENTS

Fellow Elders and IGO Members,

This report is a 50 day update of the CEO REPORT, submitted to the COE on September 10, 2005 and unanimously accepted and endorsed. This update coincides with the beginning of this next meeting and will provide information of the progress made in the said 50 days.

URGENT

A.) Selection of Venue for IIC-7. Dates of the events and designation of the Host.
IN PROGRESS. IGO Philippines is busy with processing and assisting Philippine delegates for IIC-6. They are well aware of the time constraints that were stated in the CEO Report; Submission of two/three possible venues for IIC-7 to the COE who will then make the final selection. Once the final selection is made, dates will be "locked-in", the venue secured and the information forwarded to Paz and her team for inclusion into the program for IIC-6.

B.) Agreement and Finalization of the Agenda for IIC-6.
IN PROGRESS. Paz and her team has been in contact with the COE to schedule the amount of time for meetings sufficient to conduct IGO business. Her team will be responsible to finalize the agenda, when all time commitments have been scheduled, as agreed upon.

C.) Appointment of Nominating Committee for Reporting at IIC-6.
COMPLETE Padi Tony Gomowad and his team are busy recruiting members to fill COE and elected office vacancies to be presented for votation at IIC-6.

D.) Appointment of Chair for SFRC.
IN PROGRESS. This position is presently vacant. There had been a candidate considering accepting the position but for various reasons, it was turned down. This candidate raised a very good point regarding the way the SFRC and, indeed, all fund raising was structured in the IGO. Possibly, during this current meeting, there will be a motion made to clarify fund raising and all money operations. This comes at a most opportune time as the CBL is being amended and "refurbished" for the next decade.

E.) Determination of Provisions of CBL Which Require Immediate Revising.
IN PROGRESS. Atty Lynn Macalingay and his team will be actively preparing the changes and proposed amendments required to launch the IGO into the next decade. He will work with the International Incorporation team to meet the requirements from the IRS, etc.

F.) Certification of the (501)(c)(3).
G.) Incorporation of IGO International.
IN PROGRESS. These two initiatives will be spearheaded by two CEO's: the former CEO, Edwin Abeya and the present CEO, Rosalynda Callagan. These two CEO's expect to work very closely with Atty Macalingay, "syncing-up" the necessary changes in the CBL and with Tim Botegan and Gloria Simon, along with a "pioneer" founder, Agpad. With Edwin's prior experience with non-profit, tax exempt corporations and Agpad's organizational skills, we expect to report to IIC-6 our progress and the requirements for anything further in order to finalize these two initiatives.

***There were two other major portions to the CEO Report. The Elders are aware of the balance of the CEO Report and the strategies suggested. For the benefit of those who have not read them, they are included herewith.

SHORT-TERM

A) Revival of publication of Igorot Quarterly

B) Defining relationship of IGO with IGO Philippines

C) Soliciting competent legal council willing to advise on various matters

D) CBL revisions which promote and encourage growth and expansion

LONGER TERM

A) IGO Restructuring

B) Creation of sister chapters: e.g. IGO Canada

C) Structuring of IGO investments

D) World Bank Grants for Igorot causes in the R.P.

____________________________________________________________________

SHORT TERM

A) Revival of publication of Igorot Quarterly

This issue should rightly be in the URGENT portion of this report but it must wait for two reasons: 1) the extreme time sensitive issues in the URGENT portion presently and 2) the concerns and problems which forced the early demise in 2004 seem to be an issue still. The IQ, begun in Los Angeles in 1992, was a project of love by Rex Botengan and assisted by his son, Tim. The IQ continued until the cessation of its publication because of lack of adequate assistance to those who struggled and poured their life and time into this project. In the end, Tim, Rex Jr. and Mike Wandag were forced to end because there was insufficient support in the form of articles, stories, etc. from subscribers and the Igorot community. This is an issue which many Elders feel passionate about but it is unknown if the passion communicated to receive the publication is translatable to assisting in the workload.

STRATEGY: Ideally, this should be presented at IIC-6 but time would have to be allocated for the discussion and final decision. It might be helpful if Tim could prepare a one page synopsis of what needed to be done each quarter for an issue of the IQ to come together and be published.

Possibly, with the same established printing company, there could be rotating groups of four individuals formulating one particular IQ issue; i.e. from the same Province or the same city or some such group. If this worked, there might be some friendly competition to see who had the best articles, ads, pictures, etc.

B) Defining relationship of IGO and IGO Philippines

This point cannot be addressed properly until IGO International has been incorporated. However, there has been discussions, in the past, regarding this issue. There were meetings in Virginia with Rex discussing relationships. Once IGO International is incorporated, all sister chapters which follow the incorporation will be part of the IGO, as a whole. There is a Restructuring issue which must be addressed and all relationships will be defined at that point. It should be noted that IGO Philippines may be in a unique position but that is yet to be determined by the COE.

STRATEGY: Once IGO International is incorporated, a panel of three (3) Elders should be appointed as a Restructuring Committee to work with a chair, also appointed from the COE. Preliminary report to the COE due June 30, 2006.

C) Soliciting Competent Legal Council willing to Advise on Various Matters.

As the IGO pursues the next level in its evolution, there will be a constant need to obtain competent legal advice. This may become costly and the COE might be reluctant to expend the funds, at times, to our possible detriment. With so many Igorot lawyers living abroad, there may be some who would consider doing some pro bono counseling or be willing to provide advice at their administration costs only.

STRATEGY: Attempt to recruit several names of persons who might be willing to advise us. That way, we might only request help from any one individual on an occasional basis. This would also be beneficial for the attorney because the IGO would be in a position to thank each attorney who assisted us publicly and it might add name recognition to an attorney for the future.

D) CBL revisions which are needed for long term sustainability of the IGO

As the IGO grows and expands into many “branches” of a single “tree”, the CBL must also grow. Immediate amendments have been discussed. Future growth must be anticipated and the CBL document must be examined so that it would remain “in the lead” rather than playing “catch up” with the IGO. As the Restructuring of the IGO is discussed and planned for, the CBL should be entrusted to one or two participating Elders who would have the ability to advise the COE, suggesting needed amendments.

STRATEGY: Solicit (or appoint) two Elders, one chair and one co-chair to study and report to the Council on the needed long-term revisions needed for the CBL. These Elders must be made aware of the 1 year, 3 year and 5 year thinking of the Council on growth and restructuring.

LONGER TERM

A) IGO Restructuring

The founders and pioneers of the IGO envisioned a truly worldwide

organization. In order to accomplish this, it might be wise to model some of the

worldwide non-profit organizations which have been successful; Red Cross,

some of the faith-based groups and others. While we are different, we can learn

what some of these entities have done and duplicate the strategy.

STRATEGY: The entire discussion of IGO Restructuring is beyond the scope of this report. The task will be to follow up with the available founders of the IGO who participated in the discussions in the beginning to attempt to ascertain what the original intent and concepts were. Thereafter, to submit proposals to the COE for wisdom and guidance.

B) Creation of sister chapters: IGO Canada, IGO Australia, etc

There seems to be no doubt that Filipinos living abroad, in whatever country, enjoy social gatherings and fellowship with one another. BIBAK chapters have tapped into this fact and have been successful. Picnics, Canao, Holiday Parties are well attended and this leads to weddings, birthdays and Religious events in a particular community. In order for the IGO to be relevant and to serve our Igorot community abroad, we need to tap into this idea and begin sister chapters.

STRATEGY: Once IGO International is incorporated, a three member Elder committee should examine the Restructuring piece and make recommendations to the COE as to how to accomplish the sister chapter idea. One idea may be to have: (for example) IGO Canada, affiliated with IGO International. IGO Canada would then have a Vancouver Chapter, Toronto Chapter, NW Territories (?) wherever the need and response would be. Immigration statistics could be examined, as counties have forecasts for 5 & 10 year periods. It would be wonderful to be already established when people need us rather than play “catch-up”

C) Structuring of Investments

In order to take advantage of the best rate of return on our funds, we must examine how to structure the funds which are and will be channeled to us. This is a long-term project only because we have so many immediate proposals. It must begin soon after our incorporation if we are to take advantage of increased funds which will be flowing to us and to show ourselves a competent organization to administer grants to Igorot youth in the future.

STRATEGY: Upon incorporation of IGO International, appoint or solicit someone who has familiarity in this field and ask for a preliminary report in 60 days. If the report seems plausible, the COE should follow up and make decisions regarding these matters in 2006-2007.

D) World Bank Grants for Igorot Causes

The Word Bank as well as UN organizations have grant monies available to assist in education projects and other worthy endeavors pertaining to indigenous peoples. The most challenging aspect in obtaining these grants is the application process. Once the IGO is incorporated and restructured, we can begin to pursue these funds to assist our brethren primarily in the R.P.

STRATEGY: In this proposal, the cart cannot be put before the horse. We

must be a competent organization who also has an investment strategy for our

funds. I would suggest the COE begin to acquaint themselves somewhat with

some of these issues so we may discuss them intelligently

This report was issued in order to convey to the COE what the CEO believed was the needs of the IGO if we were going to be a viable and relevant organization into the next 10 year period. The strategies proposed in this report are, in many instances, starting points of how we will go about building this great IGO. Various members will have inspired ideas to assist us in our quest of building the IGO. We must not rush! We must allow our members to become comfortable with the needed changes and to refine these changes until they meet the organization's needs. We will, however, move ahead deliberately, allowing for the free flow of ideas and points of view. Thank you and God bless the IGO!

Rosalynda Callagan, CEO

Igorot Global Organization

Created on 07/03/2005 07:05 AM by admin
Updated on 11/01/2005 08:45 PM by admin

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