One hundred years of service
The Rotary Club of Manila, Asia’s first Rotary club, was established on June 1, 1919. A national proclamation made July 2018 to June 2019 its centennial year, led by Centennial President Jesus “Susing” M. Pineda Jr. This is that year as the Balita and the Club’s photographers recorded it, with 732 photographs in the albums below.
The road to 100
Planning began four years ahead. In 2015 the Club formed its 2019 Centennial Committee under PDG Vince Carlos, and from then on the Balita carried “Centennial News” almost every week. In April 2017 the Club signed PDG Chit Lijauco to prepare its centennial coffee table book.
A proclamation
On January 24, 2018, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed Proclamation No. 413, declaring July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 the “Year for the Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Rotary Club of Manila and the Rotary Movement in the Philippines and in Asia.”
The Centennial President
Jesus “Susing” M. Pineda Jr., banker and civic leader, was inducted on May 30, 2018 as the Club’s ninety-ninth president, its Centennial President. He set two signature initiatives for the year: Sari-Saring Aralan, learning hubs for out-of-school youth modelled on the neighbourhood sari-sari store, and the Rotary Club of Manila Educational Assistance Program, which aimed to support 100 graduating students at the Pamantasan ng Maynila and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
A day with the President of Rotary International
Rotary International President Barry Rassin and Lady Esther spent a full day with the Club. In the morning they laid a wreath at the Rizal Monument in Luneta, with an honor guard lining the way, and then planted trees in Rizal Park beside President Susing and Manila Rotarians, each tree marked with the names of those who planted it. That evening the Club hosted “An Evening with Rotary International President Barry Rassin and Lady Esther” at the Grand Ballroom of Okada Manila, where PUP’s Banda Kawayan performed, the Club’s World Famous Music Chorale led the national anthem, President Rassin helped unveil the Club’s Centennial Commemorative Stamps, and members took the stage to sing the RCM Centennial Hymn.
That morning at Luneta
An honor guard lines the way to the Rizal MonumentRI President Barry Rassin and Lady Esther with the wreath
Laying the wreath at the monument
The wreath at the Rizal Monument
RI President Rassin plants a tree in Rizal Park
Manila Rotarians at the tree planting
President Susing Pineda plants his tree
Manila Rotarians with the Rassins at the monumentThat evening at Okada Manila
Service for the centennial year
The Club marked its hundredth year with service. On September 28, 2018 it held a joint tree planting with Parañaque City. With the Manila Yacht Club it took up Save Manila Bay, in support of the government’s clean-up of the bay. A “100 Years of Art” celebration opened in September 2018, and the Club ran a nationwide Centennial Awards contest for the most outstanding Rotary service projects in the country’s ten districts, judged by a panel chaired by United States Ambassador Sung Kim.
Stamps, a song and an anthem
With the Philippine Postal Corporation the Club issued limited edition centennial commemorative stamps. A Centennial Chorale Competition produced a new song, “This Is Our Pledge (Himig Rotarian),” with lyrics by Catherine Bancod and music by Fr. Ernest Raymund Simeon. Members also recorded a centennial edition of the Club’s rendition of the Philippine national anthem.
“100 years of love and service”
For its hundredth year the Club was given a hymn of its own, the work of Past President Teodoro “Teddy” J. Ocampo with his brother, the composer Louie Ocampo. Members sang it on stage at the dinner for RI President Barry Rassin on July 19, 2018.
Three days in June
The year ended in a three-day celebration. On June 20 the Club met its sister clubs and visiting Rotarians at the airport and welcomed them to a Salubong Fiesta at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. June 21 was “A Legacy of Rotary Service,” chaired by Dir. Amading Valdez, with the five grand finalists of the Chorale Competition on the program. On June 22 the Centennial Gala, chaired by VPE Hermie Esguerra, filled the Grand Ballroom of Okada Manila.
Help complete this page
Many more photographs from the Centennial year are still in members’ albums and phones. If you have pictures from any of these events, or from others in 2018–2019, please send them to the Secretariat so they can be added to the Heritage Library.
There is a lot more in the Heritage Library
More than a century of the Club, from its charter in 1919 to this week’s Balita. Here are a few places to start.
This week, 31 years agoBalita No. 2667, 19 October 1995Read the issue members were reading this week.Read this issue →Stories from the archive
1919The Rotary Club of Manila received Charter No. 478On the timeline →
1948President Elpidio Quirino became an honorary member and addressed the ClubRead the page →
1948Aviation Day: the Club met at the Philippine Airlines air fieldRead the page →
1955President Ramon Magsaysay accepted the Club's invitation to speak at its anniversary meetingRead the page →
1969President Marcos was guest of honor at the Club's 50th anniversary dinnerRead the page →
1969Rotary Circle in Malate was formally inauguratedRead the page →
1972The Club launched Operation Pakikiramay for victims of the Central Luzon floodsRead the page →
1981The Club held the RCM Newsboys Mini-Marathon with more than 400 entriesRead the page →