We should be taking the opportunity to launch service projects towards strengthening our links with scouting. Article by Felix J. Marinas PNP
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I had an opportunity to visit the APO BSP Office and I have to say I was very touched. Maganda at maayos ang opisina na airconditioned pa. It is located at the second floor of the BSP Bldg in Manila fronting the SM mall and just a hundred steps or so away from the Manila City Hall. There is a signage at the glass front of the office which says Alpha Phi Omega Commission on Scouting. The Chairman of this CBL created commission is Brod Roy Tamani. There is a small but comfortable reception area and a small but useful conference area. There is a glass enclosed bulletin board which shows the organizational structure of APOPhils and on another wall are two maps, one of the Philippines and the other of the world showing our collegiate chapters and alumni groupings. Drop by for a visit if you happen to be in the area.
The president of BSP Phils. is Brod Jojo Binay, Eta ’60.
I understand that October is scouting month. We should be taking the opportunity to launch service projects towards strengthening our links with scouting.The principal role of APO as envisioned by the Commission on Scouting is that of being Rover Scouts. I would enjoin all alumni to become Rover Scouts. As a matter of fact we can have a tie-up of many of our programs with the BSP so that we are able to pursue these programs using BSP resources. Every applicant to APO is required to have undergone first-aid training, for the more senior members we have advocated training in rescue operations (hence the Rescue 1925), for the alumni associations we encouraged eco-camps and father and son campings. As Rover Scouts, our alumni can have a direct access to high school seniors/scouts giving them a first hand look at APO and providing them the APO option as a continuation of their scouting. And brothers really looked sharp in scout uniform. I’d like to see the APO Rovers parading in force in full regalia. They could be some of APO’s Finest well-trained, disciplined, and embodying the best in our ideals.
A mural on the stairs landing between the first and second floors shows what I think were the scouts who perished in a plane crash on their way to an international jamboree. They have subsequently been immortalized with streets named after them in Quezon City and in the Morato-Timog Rotunda is another monument in their honor. Not known to many is that one of the scouts is a blood brother of Brods Tonette Tuason, Theta (also a founder of Gamma Kappa and a very active Mason) and Angel “Bobby” Ampil Tuason, Eta ’71 (GC SY75-76 and APOPhils EVP DY79-81) hence the street name Scout Tuason.
I once asked Jojo if APO can adopt the BSP Morato-Timog Rotunda as a service project but he was noncommittal. Maybe we ought to give this a second try.
They said that BSP severed its links with APO in the early 60s because of the hazing and the rumbles. Maybe it was the other way around when we became embarassed of our roots and we took the violent path to assert our campus supremacy. We have come full cycle to reclaiming our legitimacy and our birthright. The purpose of this organization now as before is to train our youth for leadership, friendship and service. With them we will build a new tomorrow.
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