People of Action campaign artwork: a Rotarian in a life vest hands a Rotary Club of Manila relief bag to a woman standing in floodwater beside boats.

Rotary Club of Manila · Asia’s first Rotary club, est. 1919

People of Action · September 2026People of Action campaign artwork: when typhoons and floods cut families off, Rotarians bring relief to them by boat and on foot.Read the story

This weekTHU12:15Weekly meetingEvery Thursday. Guests are welcome.Details →8OCTFellowshipOktoberfest Fellowship 2026Solaire Entertainment City, Parañaque CitySign up →

Balita No. 4108 · 1 October 2026On the cover: Rear Admiral Jay Tristan TarrielaAlso: The Questions Rotarians Carried HomeRead →

Rotary Year 2025–2026

A year of service, in numbers

1,588Children reachedThrough malnutrition, women’s health, medical and gift-giving programs

1,200Families given reliefAfter typhoons and earthquakes, in nine locations

36Major surgeriesValued at P3.6 million, from a P450,000 contribution

US$30KTo The Rotary FoundationRecognized by District 3810 as a top contributor

From the RY 2025–2026 report of Immediate Past President Raoul C. Creencia.

Our service · Rotary 2026–27

All service projects

President Reginald Yu, in a life vest, passes relief bags from a van to volunteers who load them onto boats for flood-hit barangays in Calumpit, Bulacan, September 2026

People of Action · Disaster response

Relief for families hit by typhoons and floods

The need: Floods keep returning to the same low-lying communities. In 2025, Typhoon Crising displaced families in Tondo and hurt the livelihoods of fishing families in Rosario, Cavite. In September 2026, floodwater up to five feet deep cut off Barangays Gugo, Santa Lucia and Bulusan in Calumpit, Bulacan, where ordinary relief vehicles could not reach.
What members did: In September 2026, members waded through floodwater and went by boat with the Rotary Club of Calumpit to bring 210 relief packs to three cut-off barangays, then rice for 70 more families in Pampanga. In 2025 they brought sleeping mats, food, medicines and livelihood help to families in Tondo, Cavite and Bulacan.
The result: 1,200 families supported by the Club’s typhoon and earthquake relief (OPLAN CARE) during RY 2025–26, in nine locations.

Read the story All service projects

Maternal and child healthLife-saving equipment for newborns at PGHWith the Rotary Club of Kangjin-Tamjin in Korea, the Club equipped the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Philippine General Hospital, the country’s largest public hospital, through a Rotary Foundation Global Grant.Read the story

Basic education and literacyA safer school for the children of BayananSome pupils of Bayanan Elementary School in Baco, Oriental Mindoro, walk up to three hours and cross a river on a bamboo bridge to reach two leaking classrooms. The Club has committed to rehabilitate the school.Read the story

Water, sanitation and hygieneProject R.I.V.E.R. at Hospicio de San JoseRotary Initiative for Vulnerability Elimination and Resilience: a high-capacity pump system so the Pasig River home for elderly, abandoned and medically fragile residents can keep caring for them through floods.Read the story

107 years · Asia’s first Rotary club

Where Rotary in Asia began

In 1919, Leon Lambert and a small group of business leaders met at the Manila Hotel and formed the first Rotary club in the Philippines and in Asia, Charter No. 478. More than a century later, the Club still meets every Thursday for fellowship and service, led in 2026–27 by President Reginald T. Yu.