Rotary Club of Manila Rotary Club of Manila The Rotary Club of Manila is the first and oldest Rotary Club in Asia. After its establishment, the Rotary Club of Manila would go on to sponsor other organizations, including the Rotary Club of Cebu (1932), the Rotary Club of Iloilo (1933), the Community Chest Foundation, the Philippine Band of Mercy (1937), the Philippine Safety Council, and the Boy Scouts of America Philippine Islands Council (1923). In 1919 Manila businessman Leon J. Lambert sent communication to Rotary in Chicago about the possibility of organizing Rotary in the Philippines. In response to Lambert's proposal, Rotary sent Roger
Rotary Club of Manila D. Pinneo of the Seattle Rotary Club to the Philippines to help set up a club in Manila. On 12 January 1919, Pinneo and Lambert held a luncheon meeting with four of Manila's prominent businessmen (Alfa Walter Beam, Fred N. Berry, Edwin Emil Elser, and James Geary) to form an organizing committee. Another meeting later resulted in the formation of a Manila Rotary Club. The 38 charter members were men heavily involved in the sociopoliticoeconomic life of the country and active in many socio-civic endeavors. They included 35 Americans, 2 Filipinos, and 1 Chinese. Elected as officers were President Leon