Gota Digital Archive – Junta General

Junta General contains the minutes of Gota’s board meetings from 1907 to 1926. While the historic significance of Gota de Leche is unimpeachable, hearing about the foundation’s day to day operations during the early 20th century adds color to its storied past.

For example, the document shows that Gota was already a depositor at the Bank of Philippine Islands… and remains so to this day. Ironically, these seemingly mundane details cement the organization’s place in history. They also further humanize an organization that is already quite human.

Junta General was written in Spanish, but thankfully, Veronica Walker-Vadillo, who is a friend and colleague to Gota, was able to translate the Junta General, as well as Junta Derectiva.

NOTE from the translator: the data inserted in square brackets is a clarification from the translator, the sign (?) means that the transcription is not very clear. The translation is organized by Page 1, Page 2, etc. This would make a quick search easy using the find application and looking for the specific page number.

Junta General – General Board 

***Note: on the first page there is a loose note. Typed with an old typewriter, it contains a list of presidents of Gota. Finishes with Senator Jose J. Rey and it is then completed in handwriting that seems to belong to Lourdes Sarabia. It records the three next presidents until 2002.***

Page 1. Session from the 23rd of December of 1906

Note: The margin contains a list of names as follows:

Mrs. Maria de Villamor

Mrs. Carmen de Gerona

Mrs. Concepcion Feliz de Calderon

Miss Trinidad Rizal

Miss. Maria Arevalo

Miss. Asuncion Soriano

Miss. Ellen C. Wilson

Dr. David Doherty

Dr. Fernando G. De Calderon

Dr. Galicano Apacible

Dr. Gervacio Ocampo

Dr. Manuel Guerrero

Mr. Lino Eguia

Mr. Felipe G. Calderon

Mr. Justo Lukban (?) was invited but could not attend.

Mr. Eugenio del Saz Orozco was invited to be the ex-officio treasurer in his position as the director of the Spanish Philippine Bank. He sent a letter to accept and send Mr. Lino Eguia on his behalf. A copy of his letter is included in page 6.

***Note to pages 1: loose note written by Lourdes Sarabia: original [unintelligible]***

Page 2. Gota must have between five and fifteen founders and so these are the ones selected for the committee:

Mrs. Maria de Villamor

Mrs. Carmen de Gerona

Mrs. Concepcion Feliz  de Calderon

Miss Trinidad Rizal

Miss. Maria Arevalo

Miss. Asuncion Soriano

Miss. Ellen C.   Wilson (later written as Helen)

Miss. Librada Avelino

Dr. David Doherty

Dr. Fernando G. De Calderon

Dr. Galicano   Apacible

Dr. Joaquin L. Quintos

Dr. Manuel Guerrero

Dr. Gervacio Ocampo (later written as Gervasio)

Dr. Ariston Bautista

Page 3: Economic and administrative committee:

Mrs. Concepcion Feliz   de Calderon

Mrs. Maria de Villamor

Miss. Maria Arevalo

Miss. Asuncion Soriano

Miss Trinidad Rizal

Mrs. Carmen de Gerona

Miss. Librada Avelino

Scientific committee:

Dr. Fernando G. De Calderon

Dr. Manuel Guerrero

Dr. Joaquin L. Quintos

Dr. Ariston Bautista

Dr. Gervacio Ocampo

Page 4-5: This section discusses the formation of the committees, including the results from the ballots. The final results were:

President: Mrs. Concepcion Feliz   de Calderon

First medical chair: Dr. Fernando G. De Calderon

Secretary-Bookkeeper: Mrs. Maria Flores de Villamor

Tresurer (ex-officio): cashier from the Spanish Philippine bank, Mr. Lino Eguia

Auditor: Miss. Maria Arevalo

Second medical chair: Dr. Ariston Bautista

Third chair: Miss. Asuncion Soriano

It was requested for the organization to be placed on public record as soon as possible.  Minutes of the meeting signed by Mrs. Concepcion Feliz de Calderon and Mrs. Maria Flores de Villamor.

Page 6: copy of the letter from the director of the Spanish Philippine Bank.

P.7: Session from 31st December 1906

The names in the margins estate those present at the meeting. Dr. Doherty went also on behalf of Ellen C. Wilson (here written as Helen). The meeting took place in the “Colegio de Medicos y Farmaceuticos” Chartered Institute of Doctors and Pharmacists (Chemists). The foundational documents were read aloud and signed before the public notary named Buenaventura Reyes. The notary was also required to get the signatures of Dr. Ariston Bautista, who did not attend, and Ignacio Villamor and Julian Gerona, who had not attended the meeting to give permission to their wives.

Page 8: This section discusses the proposal of the President of Gota/La Proteccion to request the committee of the Rizal Monument to charge an entrance fee to the exhibition where the sketches of the monument were displayed, and that all the proceedings would go to the organization. The proposal was accepted and the president was in charge of discussing it with the Riza Monument committee. Similarly, it was also proposed to request the remains of the funds from the events honouring Rizal. Office material was requested. It was also discussed the need to get a milk supplier through public auction. They called for an assembly to thank the people who attended the “Garden Party”.

***Note to pages 8-9: two loose notes written by Lourdes Sarabia: note 1: Original site of La Prot. Note2: dec. Tre. [unintelligible] 1916 – Jan 29 [unintelligible] # of [unintelligible] page 88 1088 [reference to the number of children discharged that appears in page 88].***

Page 9-13: Transcription of the legal documents of constitution of La Proteccion de la Infancia.  Point 4 establishes that the organization will last for 50 years. Point five lists names and addresses of the foundational members. Point six lists the names and addresses of the directors. Point 7 estates that the bank account of the organization has a starting sum of 5,892 pesos. Point 8 determines that the organization will be sustained by a fee to be paid by the members of La Proteccion.

The text lists the names of the signatories and the affidavit of the public notary. It includes a reference to the husbands of Concepcion Feliz de g. Calderon and Carmen Manuel de Gerona, who assisted and authorized their wives.

Page 13: Authorization of Ellen Wilson to be represented by Dr. David Doherty in the meeting.

***Note to pages 12-13: two loose note written by Lourdes Sarabia: note 1: [unintelligible] 1907. 7 [unintelligible]. Note 2: Papers of Evangelista page 12***

Page 14-15: Sworn statement from the ex-officio treasurer from the Spanish Philippine Bank confirming the amount of money currently in the bank account of the organization.

Page 16: blank.

Page 17-31: Session of the 21st of August 1907 in where the objectives of the organization are laid out.

Article 1:  Incorporated on the 15th February 1907. Private not-for-profit organization aimed to help children following scientific guidelines.

Article 2: To fulfil the aims of La Proteccion, Gota de Leche was created, and this will be followed by “Maternity Hospital” and the “School of midwives and nurses”, and as circumstances allow, other establishments will be created.

Article 3: The address of the organization will be San Pedro 41, District of Santa Cruz in the city of Manila.

Article 4: The duration of the organization is 50 years from the 16th of February 1907. 

Article 5: the corporation will be composed of founding members, honorary members, effective members (health practitioners), lifelong members and subscribers. NOTE: the text includes a description of these membership levels.

Article 6: members are obliged to pay the fees.

Article 7: membership can be regained by paying the overdue fees.

Article 8: members must a) attend the assemblies, b) recommend the children that need to be attended by La Proteccion using third category voucher, c) receive the annual report.

Article 9: founding members and effective members have these additional rights: a) vote in assemblies and meetings, b) request the celebration of an assembly via written request, c) be elected to the board of directors/committee. To be elected, the member needs to: 1) be Philippino by birth, 2) be a Miss or Mrs. Of legal age. Those who are married are required to present the authorization of the husband. 3) To be member of the technical committee it is mandatory to be technical effective member (that is, those who provide medical assistance).

Article 10: The organization is lead by the Board of directors, and administrative and technical committees that depend from it.  Further particulars on how the organization is arranged.

Article 11: establishes how the administrative committee works.

Article 12: establishes the way in which the roles will roll.

Article 13: Establishes that roles will last for two years.

Article 14: the role of the Treasurer will be linked to the cashier of the Spanish Philippine Bank.

Article 15: the technical committee will be selected by the Board members from the list of effective members.

Article 16: Board members have the rights established by the law of Corporations.

Article 17: list of rights and responsibilities of the board members.

Article 18: list of rights and responsibilities of the technical committee.

Article 19: list of rights and responsibilities of the administrative committee.

Article 20: list of rights and responsibilities of the president (NOTE: the appointment is for a woman: La Presidenta).

Article 21: list of rights and responsibilities of the first medical chair.

Article 22: list of rights and responsibilities of the secretary-accountant (NOTE: the appointment is for a woman: La secretaria contadora).

Article 23: list of rights and responsibilities of the auditor (NOTE: the appointment is for a woman: La auditora).

Article 24-25-26-27: list of rights and responsibilities of the treasurer (NOTE: the appointment is for a man: el tesorero).

Article 28: list of rights and responsibilities of the chairs

Article 29-30-31: procedures in case of substitutions

Article 32: the board of directors will celebrate an annual general meeting, and extraordinary meetings if necessary.

Article 33: The ordinary meeting will be verified the last Saturday of January.

Article 34: During the meeting it will be discussed whose roles come to an end.

Article 35: relevant issues will be raised by the Board of Directors or any other members and discussed during this meeting.

Article 36-37-38-39-40: explanation of how the organization works in terms of accountancy.

Article 41: the statutes of the organization can be changed by the general assembly if the change is proposed and backed by five members of the corporation or more.

Article 42: the corporation can only be dissolved by a majority of votes in an extraordinary assembly arranged for that purpose. The motives of the dissolution must be that the organization can no longer fulfil the aims of the corporation.

Article 43: In case of dissolution, the fate of the property of the organization can only be decided by the aforementioned extraordinary assembly and can only be destined to aims that are of similar nature as those of the corporation.

It was agreed to have the foundational papers of the organization printed and translated into English, for which a sum of money was agreed. The meeting finalized at 9pm.

***Note to pages 16-17: loose note written by Lourdes Sarabia: objectives of the corp. – page 17-18 ***

Page 32-33-34-35: Account of the official inauguration of La Proteccion.

Page 36: Invitation to the inauguration event

Page 37: Inauguration program

***Note to pages 36-37: loose note written by Lourdes Sarabia: Inauguration of La Prot. At San Pedro, Num. 41, Santa Cruz [unintelligible] Evangelista. Page 36. Change date fr. Act 10 to Feb 15 07.***

Page 38-39: Discourse by the Governor General originally presented in Spanish [NOTE: James Francis Smith was Governor General of the Philippines between 1906 and 1909] ***Translation***

Discourse pronounced by the Governor-General of the Philippines the day of the inauguration of La Proteccion de la Infancia.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

    Yesterday we inaugurated the Philippine Assembly; today we inaugurate “Gota de Leche”. If I were made to choose between these two without the possibility of enjoying both, I think that all of us would have liked to establish this Society or Association, better said “La Gota de Leche” before establishing the Philippine Assembly. 

    If the Philippine people want to be powerful, a nation amongst nations that has numerous inhabitants, it necessarily has to take care of the health of its children. 

    It is a great pity to say that in this civilized society, in this learned society, in this catholic society, half of the deceased in the city of Manila are children in their infancy.  I say it is a pity because it is an evil that can be remedied and remedied by this society [seemingly referring to Gota de Leche] which tries to teach the mothers who have not had the opportunity of taking care of their children, wo have not had the opportunity of learning how to take care of their children following modern rules, and this is the reason why there are so many dead amongst the children.

    I congratulate all the founders of this charitable society. There is nothing selfish in this society, all the members of the society are moved by altruistic motives. 

    To conclude, i expect to see included in the list of the great heroes of this country the names of the ladies that have created this society as true patriots of the Philippines. 

Page 39-40-41-42: Discourse pronounced by the President, Concepcion Feliz de G. Calderon. ***Translation***

Congratulatory note by the President Mrs. Concepcion Feliz de G. Calderon

Mr. Secretary of War, 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

The “Asociacion Feminista Filipina” [The Philippine feminist Association] whose purposes are purely social, fulfils today one of its ideals. It is true that only one of its ideals has been put into practice, but this ideal is of such transcendence, of such importance, that it alone is worth all the others. It is none other than the problem of our population. 

    Since that memorable day when a distinguished American lady, the wife of Dr. Dubois, honoured our Association with a conference on child care and the education of mothers, all our efforts have been focused on giving practical form to this thought and nothing better for it than the beautiful institution of Gota de Leche that was created in Paris by Dr. Budin and which has extended all over the civilized world.  

    The need of this institution in Manila is clearly justified by the horrible statistics of child mortality; and if this were not enough, the results that we have obtained since we started our work the 7th day of te current month [October 1907] are the best proof. We have been working for ten days and in our registers we already have 19 children, one American and eighteen Philippinos. 

    The scarcity of resources does not allow [our institution] to take in this month more than ten children from the poorest class and this number is already filled. Let’s hope that next month our resources will allow us to attend all the demand that we may have from the people who are most in need. 

    I will not provide a minute account of the difficulties that our thoughts have gone through: in our Association’s report that has been provided to you, you will be able to read the long ordeal that we have gone through to realize today the idea that was planted by Mrs. Dubois on the 27th of August 1905.  

    Allow me nonetheless not to forget the names of Dr. Doherty and the wife of the Gobernor-General, Mrs. Smith. 

    When he found out about our aspirations not only did he get in touch with Mrs. Smith to arbitrate in our resources, but he also donated this building. Mrs. Smith took charge of a “Garden Party” [sic] that took place in the gardens of Malacanyang. 

    Many ladies [refers to married and unmarried woman] from Manila’s high society and even from the provinces accepted her invitation to attend the event, and moved by the beautiful example set forth by Mrs. Smith the cooperated in such wonderful way that gave the productive results that have been explained earlier by Mr. Treasurer. 

    This work can be said to be the daughter of the mutual cooperation between Philippinos and Americans; we thank them all not only from La Proteccion de la Infancia but also from the child population of Manila. 

    Now Mrs. Taft, allow me to make a plea; when Mrs. Dubois honoured us with her conference she promised the Asociacion Feminista Filipina to pass on our homage [to you]; we plea that you do the same when you are near her, and tell her that the beautiful seed of her advice has not fallen on sterile ground and that it has become true in this corporation. 

    Allow me as well to repeat once again our words of gratitude to the kind Mrs. Smith, to Dr. Doherty, to the ladies [married and unmarried] that cooperated in the success of the Garden Party, and to all the people and organizations that contributed and are contributing to our institutions in such an efficient way.

    May my last words be for Mr. Secretary of State, for all the authorities and all the select audience to whom we are extremely grateful for honouring our institution with their presence here in this event.  

                    I have said [a way to close a text]

Page 43-44-45-46. Minutes of the General Meeting celebrated the 30th of January 1909. Discusses changes in the board of directors with two new names in the Administrative committee: Miss. Filomena Francisco and Miss. Margarita Quintos.

Page 47-48-49-50-51. Minutes of the General Meeting celebrated on the 29th of January 1910. New names in the list of effective members: Mr. Jaime C. De Veyra and Vicente Q. Gana. A thank you note to the phone company for installing a phone in the building without charge. A thank you note to Mrs. Sofia R. De Veyra for making this possible. Statistic for the year 1908-1909.

Enrolled children:         Wealthy    95

Poor        49    In total 144 children

Re- Enrolled children:     Wealthy    7

Poor        5     In total 12 children

Discharged children [baja]:     Wealthy    107

Poor        38     In total 145 children

Children in the institution up to the 31st of October 1909:     Wealthy    34

Poor        41    In total 75 children

Children in the institution up to the 29th of January 1910:    Wealthy    30

Poor        36    In total 66 children

Miss. Maria Arevalo presented her resignation letter as Secretary-accountant that period, she was replaced by Mrs. Sofia R. De Veyra. New names in the list of board of directors as chairs: Miss Araceli Guerrero and Miss Leonarda Linjaja. Staff names: assistant secretary Leoncio Rojas and typist Nazario Avenir.

Page 52-53: blanked. Crossed with ink.

Page 54-55-56-58: Minutes of the General meeting of the 28th of January 1911. New names listed in the board of directors Miss Pilar Zamora, and Mr. Domingo Garcia. New effective member: Sra. Felicidad Zamora de Garcia. Mrs. Concepcion Feliz de Calderon now appears as Mrs. Concepcion F. Widow of Calderon. Third report of La Proteccion was read during a night event at the Grand Opera House on the 14th of November.

Statistics:

From the 1st of November 1909 to the 31st of October 1910:     Wealthy    92

Poor        59     In Total 151

Enrolled children in this period:                    Wealthy    9

Poor        8    In Total 17

Discharged children:                         Wealthy    108

Poor         49    In Total 157

Enrolled children on the 31st of October 1909:            Wealthy     27

Poor        59    In Total 86

Enrolled children on the 28th of January 1911:            Wealthy     31

Poor        64    In Total 95

The minutes contain also details of the accounts and changes in the board of directors. A new name is listed in the administrative committee: Filomena Francisco. Gervacio Icampo is now written as Gervasio Ocampo. They discuss general matters such as repair works for the building where La Proteccion is housed, registration of a property, and purchasing of cows.

Page 59-60-61-62-63: Minutes of the General Meeting of the 27th of January 1911. New names are listed as subscribers: Mr. Florencio Joceon (?), Mr. Catalino Estrera.

Statistics:

From the 1st of November 1910 to the 31st of October 1911:     Wealthy    72

Poor        56     In Total 128

Re-enrolled children in this period:                Wealthy    5

Poor        9    In Total 14

Discharged children:                         Wealthy    83

Poor         79    In Total 162

Enrolled children on the 31st of October 1911:            Wealthy     21

Poor        45    In Total 66

Enrolled children on the 27th of January 1912:            Wealthy     19

Poor        43    In Total 62

The minutes contains details of the accounts and changes in the board of directors and committees. It also contains the names of two honorary members:  Honorable Mr. Jaime C. De Veyra, and His Excellency Mr. Pedros P Roxas. Two nurses request paid leave but are told to go through the appropriate channels.

Page 64-65-66-67-68-69-70-71-72-73: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 20th of April 1912. Lists new names present at the meeting: Florentino Torres, J. Buhay (listed as Jose Buhay in P.76). List of absentees contains a large number of new names (members). The Minutes contain amendments to the statutes of the organization: Article 2 only references La Gota de Leche and not the “Maternity Hospital” and the “School of midwives and nurses”, so we are to believe that these projects were scrapped. Articles 5 pertaining membership and voting rights is also modified. Article 8 is modified to erase the term “third category” for the term “the poor class”. There are further changes to the statutes related to membership and roles. It also amends the document to change the term “the [female] president” to “the [male/generic] president” (p. 69).

Page 74-75: Minutes from the Extraordinary General meeting of the 29th of Jul 1912 to appoint a new president and secretary-accountant due to the resignation of the previous. Rafael Palma was appointed new president, and Miss Margarita Quintos as the new secretary-accountant. They agreed to ask a Mr. Hoshim, the man who sold them the cows, why one of them is not pregnant.  They also agreed to vaccinate the cattle to prevent a disease.

***Note to pages74-75: loose note written by Lourdes Sarabia: registration of 26,000 pesos for Building Gota Le[unintelligible]***

Page 76-77-78: Minutes of the General Meeting of the 25th of January 1913. The text lists a new name among the honorary members that attended the event: Mr. Arcadio Arellano. Provides the accountancy details and lists the statistics as follows: in the past 4 years there have been 742 children enrolled in the program. There were 60 re-enrolled and 724 children were discharged. At the time of the meeting there were 33 wealthy children and 51 poor children enrolled. It was approved to launch a propaganda strategy to extend Gota de Leche’s work into other areas of the archipelago.

Page 79-80-81-82: Minutes of the General Meeting of the 31st of January 1914. Accountancy details and statistics. Total number of children since the first year: wealthy 506, poor 357 (total of 863). Re-enrolled children: wealthy 37, poor 32, total 69. Discharged children: wealthy 518, poor 333, total: 851. The text uses the terms: first category and second category. The board of directors makes Mr. Teodoro Yangco a honorary member (they use the term of DON, which is a sign of high respect in Spanish language) for his eminent services to La Proteccion. The text discusses how the architect Mr. Arcadio Avellano presented the proyect for the construction of the building that will be used by Gota de Leche (P.82). They agree to pay 31,600.00 pesos (all inclusive). The board of directors agree that work should start immediately.

***Note to pages 80-81: loose note written by Lourdes Sarabia: donation of lot [unintelligible] by Don Teodoro Yangco page 80 Jan 31, 1914***

Page 83-84-85-86: Minutes of the General meeting of the 30th of January 1915. ***Ink is blue and faded*** New names are listed in the effective members’ list: Baldomero M. Lapak. Mr. Teodoro Yangco attended the meeting as an honorary member. The report is for 14 months instead of the previous 12 month period in order to harmonize with the fiscal year.   The statistics expose that 995 children have been enrolled in the program since its creation, 564 from wealthy background and 428 from poor background. 74 were re-enrolled (40 wealthy and 34 poor). A total of 989 were discharged (577 wealthy and 412 poor)/ Accountancy details follows. A new president is elected, Mrs. Sofia R. De Veyra, and a new Auditor is also selected, Mrs. Francisca Girona (?) Benitez. Mention is made to the construction of Gota de leche.

Page 87-88-89-90-91: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 29th of January 1916. New names listed in the list of effective members: Mr. Crisanto Bautista and Mrs. Consuelo G. De Cuyugan. New name as subscriber: Mr. Nazario Santos. Address changed to Lepanto Street in Sampaloc. Mentions that Gota de Leche opened to the public on the 1st of October 1915. The statistics are as follows. A total of 1022 children benefited from the program since its start. 75 were re-enrolled and 1088 [sic] were discharged. Accountancy details are laid out. Mrs. Sofia de Veyra tries to resign but is convinced to remain in the organization, and she is selected as the president. She proposes Miss Socorro Marquez from the University of the Philippines as the new secretary-accountant. The motion is approves and they agree to inform her later, as she is not present. The treasurer is now listed as cashier of the Bank of the Philippine Islands. The subscriber Mr. Crisanto Bautista is a contractor, he presents the project of restoration of the building previously used for Gota de Leche and the motion is approved.

***Note to pages 88-89: loose note written: Gota de Leche Building opened its doors to the [crossed word] public Oct 1st, 1915 ***

Page 92-93-94-95: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 27th of January 1917. The meeting includes references to cattle brought from Australia, accountancy details, and statistics. In nine years of service there have been 1296 children inscribed in the program, including re-enrolled children. 1223 children were discharged until 1916. The president, Mrs. Sofia de Veyra, resigns because she is travelling to the USA. She also presents the resignation of Miss. Socorro Marquez, and Mrs. Francisca Girona de Benitez. The roles were assigned to:

President: Mrs. Rosario M. de Delgado (named Rosario Montenegro de Delgado in P. 96)

Auditor: Mrs. Maria R. De Buencamino

Secretary-accountant: Miss Natividad Almeda (page 94)

They agree to take pictures of the children so that Mrs. Veyra can take them to te U.S. and show the progress made by the organization. They agree to include photo-engravings of the new building of Gota and its barn in Pasay. They also agree that no more than 50 poor children should be taken in.

Page 96-97-98: minutes of the general meeting of the 23rd of February 1918. Statistics are as follows: 1299 enrolled children since the start of the program, 76 re-enrolled children, and 1324 children discharged. Accountancy details follow. Mrs. Luisa Rodriguez de Aldanese becomes the new auditor. The treasurer from the bank is called Mr. Domingo Garcia. The president, Mrs. Rosario M. de Delgado complains about the staff and the service at the barn and they agree to admonish the staff.

Page 99-100: minutes of the General Meeting of the 25th of January 1919. The first page lists the names of people present and the names of people (many of them new) who have asked someone else to represent them.  The statistics show that Gota has served 1446 children during its existence. The new board of directors is elected following a secret ballot system. The elected members are as follows:

President: Mrs. Leonarda L. De Ubaldo (15 votes against Mrs. Delgado with 3 votes)

Secretary: Miss Natividad Almeda (15 votes against Mrs. De Vamenta with 3 votes)

Auditor: Mrs. Luisa R. de Aldanese with 18 votes.

The obituary of Dr. Manuel S. Guerrero indicates he died the 4th of January.

Page 101-102-103-104-105:  Minutes of the General Meeting of the 28th of February 1920. The members seem to be more involved since the previous meeting in the decision making process. Though not many attend, many align themselves with specific representatives and allow them to vote on their behalf. The common Spanish surnames found in the first decade are slowly being replaced by local names such as Jabunting, Lichanco, and Jiaoqui.  Statistics show that in 12 years Gota has attended 1616 children. No references to their economic background are indicated. Almeda and Ubaldo are reelected, and Mrs. Concepcion de Apacible is chosen as Auditor. The text mentions a request by a man from Pasay, Mr. Alva J. Hill, to connect to the barn’s water pipe, but the request is denied. A Mr. Tomas Earnshaw send a donation in an envelope.

Page 106-107-108: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 28th of January 1921. List of people present and list of members that, although not present, have extended their support/vote to someone else who will vote on their behalf. Only men are present in this meeting, all of them doctors. Though the text acknowledges the presence of the secretary-accountant, Miss Natividad Almeda, she is listed as absentee. The funds of the organization have risen from just under 5,000 pesos to managing almost 53,000 pesos. The outstanding balance is 6,254.78 pesos. A total of 1782 children had received care from the project since the start. No details of their backgrounds. Concepcion Apacible and Leonarda Ubaldo do not want to continue in their roles. Presidency is offered to Mr. Teodoro Yangco and the Secretariat to Mr. Proceso Gabriel. Nurses request holiday leave and this is accepted. Bottles are requested.

Page 109-110-111: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 28th of January 1922. ***Ink is blue and it is faded*** The usual list of people present and absentees giving their support/vote to specific people who act as their representatives. All members present are men. Natividad Almeda is the only female member of the board of directors, but she is recorded as absentee.  1963 children were listed as having received support from Gota sin 1907. All the board of directors were re-elected for their roles.

Page 112-113-114: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 27th of January 1923. Same as previous year. Natividad Almeda is the only female in the board of directors present. 2074 children were listed as having received support from Gota sin 1907. No one resigns and no one presents a new candidacy for the Board of Directors, therefore they all remain in their places. There is an acknowledgement to Natividad Almeda for finding patrons for Gota de Leche. The meeting lasts an hour (6:40 to 7:45 pm).

Page 115-116-117: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 9th of February 1924. Same as previous year. Natividad Almeda is the only female in the board of directors present. 2192 children were listed as having received support from Gota since 1907. There is an increase in the board of directors, with Mrs. Wood (honorary President), Mrs. Roxas (honorary vice-president), and Mrs. Quezon(hoorary vice-president)  being named as honorary members of the board of directors. The Board of directors is re-elected in its entirety. The meeting lasts from 6:35 to 7:10pm. The last two texts contain some orthographic mistakes.

Page 118-119-120-121: Minutes from the General Meeting of the 9th of February 1924. Same as previous year. Natividad Almeda is the only female in the board of directors present and is now written as Mrs. Natividad Almeda-Lopez, indicating her change in civil status. Accountancy details have been left blank. 2396 children were listed as having received support from Gota since 1907. ***ink is blurry*** Everyone is reelected. This text is an exact copy of the previous, except for the data.

Page 122: First page of the minutes of the General Meeting of the 13th February 1926. The list is identical as the  previous ones; list of members present, list of supporters and supported. The page is loose.

LOOSE DOCUMENT: there is another loose document at the end. It is an authorization of Mrs. E de Cuyugan for Dr. Manuel Guerrero to act on her behalf.

Translator: Veronica Walker Vadillo

Contact email: v.walker.vadillo@gmail.com

Date of translation: 29th of March to 4th of April