The Team
Dale Dennis M. David, Vision, is passionate
about contributing something to making this world a better place to
live in. He provides the overall vision and mission of Go TOTO. He also
founded Mighty Minds and Filipino Matters, both non-profit organizations.
A member of UP Mountaineers, he is also into swimming, sculling, dragonboat rowing, and
triathlons. He got his degree in Marketing from De La Salle University
and holds a Graduate Certificate in Management from Harvard University.
He also took his Master of Public Administration from the University of
the Philippines
Jose "Jyoti" Arcega, Swim Trainor, loves swimming
since he was a kid. He is a member of the Philippine Amateur Swimming
Association, a volunteer of the Red Cross Quezon City, a member of the
Triathlon Association of the Philippines and has years of experience as a
multi-awarded competitive swimmer on both the local and regional level. He has
coached several multisport teams that competes both locally and internationally.
He has also helped individuals produce strong swim splits en route to numerous
podium finishes. He is a vegetarian and teaches yoga at Ananda Marga in Quezon City.
He is the founder of TriSwimJose.com.
Ramon Vizmanos, Swim Trainor, is methodological in everything he does.
He is also responsible in coming up with the Toto Program on how to condense swimming lessons in
couple of days. He is a member of the UP Mountaineers (UPM) and has been its ERC head two times already,
a position that is highly regarded in the group as the person is in charge of teaching the applicants basic
mountaineering courses. He is also a member of the UPM Search and Rescue Team. He has been a swimming instructor
at Aqualogic, the Philippines' recognized partner of the Total Immersion program. As he loves the outdoors, he is
a member of Paules Outdoor and the Gaia Exploration Club. He is also a certified Emergency Medical Technician.
Ramon loves cycling, mountaineering and used to do triahtlons in his younger years.
IIlie Lionel B. Gramata, Legal, is a smart, practical guy that
ensures Go TOTO covers its bases. During his law schoold days, he was a noted student-leader,
having held the positions of Student Council President in San Beda College and National
Secretary-General of the Association of Law Students of the Philippines. He has received his
Bachelor of Laws from San Beda College and has obtained his Bachelor of Science in Applied
Economics at De La Salle University. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2002.
He is a partner at Valenton Gramata Loseriaga Law Office. He is into dragonboat rowing, sculling and mountain biking.
Sinag De Leon has always been a nature lover and an outdoors person.
She got into swimming early on at age 13 joining the UP Integrated
School (UPIS) Varsity Swimming Team and eventually becoming the Team
Captain. During college she was recruited to join the University of
the Philippines Varsity Swimming Team in Diliman and was also elected
Women's Team Captain in her senior year.
Through the initiative of swim coaches Noel K. Rivera and Bernie Cavida,
she got into triathlons in 1993 and became a member of the National Triathlon
Team from 1997-98. She joined adventure races in 2002, as well as Ironman Triathlons,
finishing twice in the Australian Ironman Triathlon (2002 & 2004). She also got involved
in running and dragonboat rowing.
Read more.
Judy Malabanan, Communications, is dedicated to putting her pen to good use by raising awareness
about survival swimming for Filipino children. Her love for kids, belief in the written
word, and passion for sports have anchored her to Go Toto's vision and mission.
During her college days studying BS Communications Technology at the Ateneo De
Manila, she was the team captain of the Ateneo Rowing Team and competed internationally
as a figure skater. After college, she got involved in environmental activism working
with Greenpeace Southeast Asia as the Fundraising Manager. She now works as the
Marketing Head of a rural bank, while continuing her passion of writing content for
event groups and publications. Her idea of a quiet day is a long run and spending quality
time with her husband, son, and pets.
Mark Dinong, Artist, is a creative person.
He shares his graphics and website design skills to Go TOTO so that we
can have this pro looking website. He has done countless website
designs, he loves to draw and doodle Manga and Chibi characters in
his pastime. He is the lead artist in the mobile game SIPA, the first
Filipino-themed game on iTunes and Googleplay. He's fond of eating but
never gets fat. He has a great voice and loves singing He is a naturally
happy person, always smiling and sharing stories and corny jokes.
With all his creative talents, he remains very humble at heart. He runs every time he gets a chance.
VISION
An Advocacy to Teach Filipino Kids Basic Survival Swimming
MISSION
It is estimated that about 80% of Filipinos DON'T know how to swim.
If one knows how to swim, one may save oneself or even others during accidents
in water activities or dangerous incidents like flash floods. Although, there
are many swimming schools, they are usually cost prohibitive and hardly available
in rural areas. In addition, most public schools, if not all, do not provide swimming
lessons, simply because they don’t have pool facilities.
Go TOTO, through its volunteers would like to teach kids survivial swimming by:
- Formulating a “Basic Survival Swimming” (BaSS) Program that will be able
to teach kids basic swimming in two 2-hour sessions.
- Teaching the BaSS program to other Trainors/Coaches from all over the country so
that that they may be able to teach and spread the techniques to other kids.
- Setting up weekend swimming workshops.
About Go TOTO
TOTO is the nickname of Muelmar Magallanes, an 18 year-old young man
who sacrificed his life saving more than 30 people (many are mothers
and kids) from being swept away by ravaging flood during the onslaught
of tropical storm Ondoy (one of the worst typhoons in Philippine history).
Even with the flood deepening, he kept on coming back to save more people
until a solid wall collapsed that killed him. He was named as one of the
Top Ten Heroes of Time Magazine in 2009.
We are naming this advocacy in his honor so that his heroic efforts will
never be forgotten. His swimming skills have saved many people. Through this
advocacy, we are hoping that many kids will be able learn not just survival
swimming but also the value of helping others in times of needs.
Get Involved
Go TOTO is a non-profit program. It is never intended to make money.
Nor it does intend to charge fees to kids who would want to learn swimming skills.
Although the volunteers are willing to provide work for free, there would still be expenses
for logistics to run the program. As such the most direct way for you to get involved is
to fund a swim program. Every time you fund a program on Go TOTO, you help grow our community,
expand our reach, and spread our message.
Volunteer
We are always in search of talented individuals like you! If you've got skills to share,
email us at support@GoTOTO.org and tell us something about yourself.
Connect with us
Like us on Facebook to get the latest news, updates, and information!
Donate to Go TOTO
Because we are committed to using 100% of your donation to fund swimming programs, we rely on
donations from people like you to grow our impact. Donate to Go TOTO's operational costs.
Help Spread the Word
Invite friends, family, and coworkers to join the Go TOTO community and possibly fund a swimming
program or simply Like us on Facebook!