Messages of the District Governors
Four district governors send greetings to the Rotary Club of Manila on its Joint Formal Handover and Awarding Meeting.
Leody “Odie” F. Tarriela, District Governor RY 2020-2021
Iconic and astute, the gentlemen of colossal magnitude whose names are etched on your distinguished roster are bulwarks of service whose benevolent ways make you the quintessential men of Service Above Self. Your regularity of activities in Rotary is a sight to behold in the midst of this global pandemic. Your transformation from a club of excellence to a club of legacy marks your hallowed place in the communities you serve and continue to serve.
Congratulations Rotary Club of Manila on the occasion of your Joint Formal Handover/Awards Meeting! My warmest personal regards to my Transformational President Bobby Joseph! You are a trailblazer whose visionary ways are beyond compare. Congratulations likewise to Champion President Jackie Rodriguez for bring your club to the peak of success in a Rotary year that was. Today, I invite you to be one with us as ROTARY OPENS OPPORTUNITIES for us to reach more hands, feed more mouths and touch more lives.
Liza V. Elorde, District Governor RY 2019-2020
Planting the seeds of service is genuinely painstaking, yet, its never-ending fruits showcase a bountiful harvest. This is the story of your club, the First Rotary Club in Asia. Without your existence, the Rotary name in the archipelago would not have reverberated with the many good deeds you have shared with the Filipino people.
The projects you have undertaken throughout your many years of existence not only became milestones, they became the finest hours of Philippine history. Many fine gentlemen of this nation wished they were in your shoes because while your exacting standards have become the pedestal upon which we all look up to not only in the district, but, in the entire Philippine Rotary, as well, you continue to manifest the kind of service excellence despite the obstacles of the global pandemic that has defined Service Above Self. These are marks of the true Champions of Service you have always been for which the district is forever in awe at your accomplishments.
On the occasion of the Joint Formal Handover/Awarding Meeting of the Rotary Club of Manila, the First in Asia, allow me to convey my warmest personal wishes for a productive Rotary year ahead to Transformational President Robert “Bobby” L. Joseph, Jr., his Board of Directors and Executive Officers, as well as to my Champion President Joaquin “Jackie” C. Rodriguez, Sr., his Board of Directors and Executive Officers, for hoisting the banner of your club high and mighty above the rest as you ended a Champion year that was, replete with achievements that have defined your finest hour. Let us all foster the fellowship, camaraderie and selfless service towards the end of Peace and Conflict Resolution with our fellow Rotarians wherever they may be because after ensuring that “ROTARY CONNECTS THE WORLD”, the new normal implores us to transform and take action as “ROTARY OPENS OPPORTUNITIES”.
Robert Koa, District Governor RY 2021-2022
Distinguished Rotarians and Guests, Good Afternoon/Evening. I hope everyone is doing well and are healthy; and, of course is following safety and health protocols now that all of you are gathered there in Heritage Hotel. You know “new normal.”
We are all here to celebrate the success of the Champion Term of Rotary Club of Manila led by IPP Joaquin “Jackie” Rodriguez. Allow me to congratulate everyone for another successful year. Congratulations and thanks as well to all partners in service that they partnered up with last year. Despite the challenges, hardships, and difficulties, the latter part of your term has engaged with due to CoVid-19, you were all persistent and eager to serve and had succeeded very well over these difficulties, so congratulations! You have proven that against all odds, you are all Champions.
From being Champions, this year, we are all now Transformational. We are transforming our world by Opening Opportunities. I would like to welcome and send my personal congratulations to President Robert “Bobby” Lim Joseph, Jr. for accepting the role of leading Rotary Club of Manila to another extraordinary year. With RC Manila’s long history of service to the less fortunate members of our community, I am very happy to see that the club will be led by another vibrant leader. Congratulations, President Bobby! I wish you all the success in your journey as the President of this very prestigious club.
Of course, I would like to extend my congratulations to the new board of RC Manila and to the members, Manila Rotarians, as today marks the 102nd Handover, Inaugural, and Awarding Ceremonies of the First Rotary Club in Asia, your club, the Rotary Club of Manila. May all of you continue to embody and live by the motto of Rotary, Service Above Self. Putting into highlight our theme this year, “Rotary Opens Opportunities”, I am sure that this will mean that RC Manila will open more and more opportunities for the less fortunate members of the community, especially, during these hard times that we are in a pandemic.
Again, congratulations to IPP Jackie and his Champion Team and of course, congratulations, welcome, and best of luck President Bobby and to his Transformational Team!
Thank you everyone and have a great night ahead.
Joyce Michelle Socorro L. Ambray, District Governor RY 2022-2023
The story of Rotary on Philippine and Asian shores begins with your existence. More than a centennial of doing good in the world, you have remained the guiding light to the many in our district and beyond our confines. As mentor of Rotarians across the country, you have served as a bedrock of leadership and a repository of Rotary’s role in Philippine history. Many of the greatest men who have ever lived in the Philippines inhabit your distinguished membership roster so much so that a mere glance at more than a century that was for your club is akin to the shaping of the Filipino nation. While you continue to bask in your finest hour despite the onslaught of the global pandemic, you have never ceased to inspire many in imparting the tenets of Service Above Self to which many of us, your brothers and sisters in the district express our deepest gratitude. Your wisdom, indeed, is a treasured gift we all wish to emulate and embracing us as part of your ever growing family is truly a priceless moment we will cherish as we undertake our missions in Rotary.
Today, as you turn a new leaf with the staging of the Joint Formal Handover/Awarding Meeting of the Rotary Club of Manila, the First in Asia, let me send my warmest greetings for a prosperous Rotary year of service to Transformational President Robert “Bobby” L. Joseph, Jr., his Board of Directors and Executive Officers, as well as to Champion President Joaquin “Jackie” C. Rodriguez, Sr., his Board of Directors and Executive Officers, for striking the highest note in a Rotary year that was where ceaseless accomplishments of your club abound for which our district has so much to be thankful for because when ROTARY OPENS OPPORTUNITIES, helping becomes a proverbial blessing.
