History of Tower Awards

Tower Awards in a Nutshell

History of the Competition

The TOWER (The Search for Outstanding Workers of the Republic) Awards was founded in 1975 by the Rotary Club of Manila as an annual search for outstanding “blue collar” workers of the country. Subsequently, it included in its coverage “white collar” (non-supervisory) workers. It aims to recognize the contributions to economic development of the legions of skilled workers who constitute the backbone of our country’s manpower capacity.

The awards program transcended the confines of a Club’s concern because of its nationwide reach and significance in uplifting the Filipino workers’ morale and social status leading to greater prestige at the workplace – to the entrepreneur / employer and the colleagues, to the family and the community while enhancing individual career opportunities and promoting industrial peace.

The nationwide project was suspended for ten years (1986-1996) but was revived in 1996 in response to the call to revitalize excellence and productivity at the workplace and energize collective skills of our workers for global competition.

Most recently, the borderless competition for labor effectiveness and efficiency with the dawn of globalization and the surge in information technology, changed the work paradigm, the way we work and how companies operate. It gave rise to the decline in the industrial “blue collar” labor force which resulted in the rapid rise in the number of workers in the informal sectors as well as of white collar workers. The latter group “mushroomed” and dominated the information technology, telecommunications, banking, insurance, professional services, and even the manufacturing sectors.

To date, more than two hundred 200 TOWER Awardees have been recognized. Through the years since its revival, the ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA, together with METROBANK FOUNDATION, INC., and the other cooperators and supporters have work together in recognizing work excellence, productivity and innovation that can spell the difference towards decent work and harmony at the workplace thereby preserving jobs and enhancing employment opportunities.

Institutions and organizations like the DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYEMENT (DOLE), HOTEL AND RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES (HRAP), The SOFITEL Philippine Plaza Hotel, CHINESE BUSINESS CLUB, INC., Technological University of the Philippines, Pamantasan Ng Lungsod Ng Maynila, Central Colleges of the Philippines, System Technology Inc. (STI) and other state colleges and universities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, have supported and continue to support the project. Very recently, the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) was added to its league of cooperators.