Tatom: Restructure JPNHS Alumni Association

MANILA: A prominent alumnus has pitched for the creation of a “strong Mambulaoan organization” capable of effecting changes both in the community and at Alma Mater.

Metro-Manila-based Samuel Tatom (Batch 66), the secretary of LaPIMa, said the JPNHS alumni need an organization that has the energy and will to effect change.

LaPIMa is short for Larap PIM Association, which is a Facebook chat group for alumni from Larap.

“The JPNSH Alumni Association has to be overhauled,” he said.

Tatom’s proposal was contained in a recent email circulated among several members of his batch year and other alumni overseas and in the Philippines.

He said the JPNHS Alumni Association has to be restructured, in which the people who would run the organization are “doers and thinkers”.

Saying that the association has a total membership of 10,000, but whose actual strength is only 2,000, Tatom said: “We need real action … we need productivity and the creativity to generate funds for designed projects.”

He said that as an organization, the JPNHS is registered with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) with about K200,000 deposited with Bank of Commerce.

Part of the funds has been invested with the JPNHS Cooperative, Tatom said.

The association’s bank account status was confirmed during a meeting held last October, which was attended by the 2012 alumni homecoming organizing committee, according to Tatom.

He said: If we are to create a new umbrella name to cover all Mambulaoans … wala na namang magtatrabaho n’yan to do the legwork when registering the new name … because there would be no one willing to do this as there is no initial money to spend for a new association name.”

Tatom said there is sense in keeping the existing name of the association which is the JPNHS Alumni Association.

“All it needs is to be restructured and revitalized to make it function effectively,” he said.

But most of all, there should be dedicated professional members with the “right chemistry” between them who should be elected, Tatom said. – (See related story ‘Proposed JPNHS core group involves town mayor’)