Philippine Islands Council (Boy Scouts of America)
This article is about the youth movement. For the military unit, see Philippine Scouts.
Main article: History of Scouting in the Philippines
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The Philippine Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America #545 administered Boy Scouting activities in the Philippines from 1923 to 1937. In 1938, the Boy Scouts of the Philippines took over Scouting responsibility for Filipino boys, while the Philippine Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America #802 held jurisdiction for American boys in the Philippines after 1937 until its disbandment in 1942 at the height of World War II.[1] Since the end of the war, Boy Scouts of America in the Philippines have fallen under the Far East Council.
Chronology
| YEAR | EVENTS |
| 1923 |
THE FILIPINO CHARTER MEMBERS Manuél Camus y Roxas (16 Oct 1875–22 Dec 1949): President, National Committee, YMCA of the Philippine Islands. Chairman, Committee on Petitions, Philippine Leprosy Commission, 1935. Grand Master, Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, 1934. Enrique P. Brias y Roxas: Spanish businessman. Member, Philippine Chamber of Commerce. Member, Cámara Española de Comercio de Manila. Dee Ching Chuan (13 Aug 1888, Shizhen, Fujian, China–27 Oct 1940, Monrovia, California): 16th through 21st President of the Philippine Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, 1919–24. Lim Sae Gim: Member, Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Arsenio Nicasio Luz y Katigbák (12 Dec 1887, Lipá, Batangas–1956): Director, Manila Hotel. President, Rotary Club of Manila, 1933–34. Director General of the Manila Carnival from 1921 to the 1930s. Member, Philippine Chamber of Commerce.
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| 1924 |
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| 1925 |
Through the activities of the National Field Committee funds were secured to make possible the employment of an executive to devote his full time to Scouting in the Philippine Islands. A First Class Council was subsequently organized, and A. S. McFarlane, of Jacksonville, Fla., accepted the appointment to serve in the Philippines.
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| 1926 |
At the Manila Carnival this year, all the troops in the city participated in two parades. There was maintained a Boy Scout Station on the carnival grounds with one object in view TO GIVE REAL HELPFUL SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC IN TRUE SCOUT SPIRIT. In this Station there were thirty-two Scouts on duty, two troops assigned for one day. A clerk was on duty all the time to keep a record of good turns and calls for service. There was also a First Aid Station where accidents were taken care of. A squad of Scout Police was maintained to patrol the grounds and see that all scouts remained on their post of duty. The boys did all sorts of good turns. "BE PREPARED" is the motto of the Boy Scouts. Count on the Boy Scouts if there is anything to be done when you have them in your locality. They are EVER-READY. Our troops (a troop is composed of not more than 32 boys) are as yet too few for a country like ours. According to information from the Philippine Council for Boy Scouts, there are now sixty troops in the Islands located in twenty different places, an increase of nearly 400 per cent for 1925 in both the number of troops and scouts. There are over 1,400 on the roll. The troops are in Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Baguio, Laoag, Cavite, Cagayan, Cabanatuan, Dumaguete, Vigan, Malolos, Cuyapo, McKinley, Stotsenburg, San Fernando, Lingayen, Bago, Bais, Manjuyod, and Isabela. Are you in one of these places? Is your town or school represented? We certainly would enjoy your company. It may interest you to know what the Boy Scouts in some places have done. In 1923, troop No. 1, or the American troop, ushered at the K. P. Charity Ball, decorated graves on Memorial Day, and gave P20.00 to the Japanese Relief Fund. The boys made a sixteen-day trip to the southern islands covering 1,700 miles, giving demonstrations on their way. They also went on a hike covering 30 miles. The troop in Pasay, called the troop for the Deaf and Blind, gave a splendid demonstration in January, 1924, and contributed well-performed stunts during their benefit show. The Boy Scouts in Dumaguete, Bais, and Manjuyod, did all sorts of service during athletic meets — removing hurdles, preparing jumping pits, acting as inspectors, and in hundred other ways. The Silliman troop went on a hike to Luzuriaga during Christmas vacation and stayed in camp for one week. The Boy Scouts in Bais and Manjuyod elementary schools help the teachers in keeping good order. They act as policemen and as helpers. It is regrettable that there are not more troops in the Islands. We would like to have the movement sweep the whole archipelago so that every town or school would have at least one troop. From the graduating class of 1924 of the Philippine Normal School, Manila, nine of us were under training as scoutmasters. The Superintendent of the Normal School was also trained with us. I don't know how many of us have organized at least one troop in our respective localities. But with these few men to help in the start, we are confident that in a few years to come, the scout movement will reach every barrio. It is contemplated that a well trained scout executive will be stationed in each of the three big island groups in the Philippines, thus giving the troops better supervision and instruction.
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| 1927 |
Most interesting reports are received of the growth of Scouting which was recently organized in the Philippine Islands. There are 112 Troops with about 2,400 registered Scouts. The Scout Executives who help the Movement in the Philippines, were sent by the Boy Scouts of America, and Mr. A. S. Macfarlane, who is in charge, has sent some very interesting evidence of the real understanding with which the Philippine boy takes the Scout Oath and Law and does his Daily Good Turn. ... We are publishing on page 23 a photograph of the boys in the Leper Hospital, taking the Scout Oath. These boys are extremely poor and Mr. Macfarlane suggests that because it is impossible for these boys to earn any money toward their uniforms, it would be fine if some of our Troops, as well as individual scouts, would send old uniforms which could be used by members of this Troop. Parcels should be addressed to the Boy Scouts of America, Supply Dept., 121 West 19th Street, New York, N. Y. Please be sure to mark your parcels "For Philippine Scouts."
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| 1928 |
WENCESLÁO TRINIDÁD: Collector, Internal Revenue. President, Board of Directors, Philippine National Bank. Grand Master, Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, 1924. KCCH, 1930. 33° IGH, 1935. Name source of Wenceslao Trinidad Memorial National High School, Batangas.
The first organization meeting of the council was held October 5, 1923, when a group of citizens headed by Major P. D. Carman got together and formed the present council. The minutes in the minute book of the council start July 2, 1924.
The council ran with a part-time executive from this time until March, 1925. During this time Mr. Chas. Adams, Mr. David Ritchie and Mr. Thos. Fitzpatrick in turn served as executive.
About this time Mr. E. S. Turner went to the United States and was commissioned by the council to consult with national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America in regard to sending out a trained executive.
In March, 1925, the present executive arrived in the Islands and took over the splendid work started by Messrs. Adams, Ritchie and Fitzpatrick. He was joined in 1926 by Messrs. Greenan and Wiltse.
Major P. D. Carman has stood as a tower of strength at the head of the council in the Philippines and it is with regret that we have been forced to accept his resignation this year to permit him to give a little, more time to his own business.
With the co-operation of the men who served on the Philippine council, your executive has been able to report in previous years a very substantial growth in membership, and 1927 is no exception to this rule.
Year Troops Scouts Adults
1924 16 333 Less than 100
1925 55 1,854
1926 98 2,094
1927 157 3,352 1,244
There have actually been registered and active during these years a total of 190 troops, but we have dropped 23 of them as inactive at present although several that have thus been counted out have recovered and re-registered during this month. Ten new troops have come in since the end of December, 1927.
As usual we have been somewhat handicapped by the lack of funds during the year 1927; however, both Mr. Joseph H. Schmidt, our chairman of finance for the first part of the year, and Mr. S. J. Nesbitt who relieved him during the latter part of the year, have added to their laurels by again doing the "impossible" and securing for the council ₱721.00 over and above the amount requested by the national headquarters.
Total donations secured ₱ 5,721.00 or $2,860.50
Received from national headquarters 16,000.00
Sale of supplies (revolving) 3,607.86
Troop registrations (revolving) 3,249.78
Stock on hand (supplies) 108.04
The total amount spent during the year including the salaries paid by the national scout headquarters was $10,613.12.
Just to see what it is really costing us to organize and maintain our scouts it might be well to compare our figures with those of our nearest neighbor at Honolulu.
Troops Scouts Cost per boy Budget
The Honolulu council 39 1,227 11.08 $13,580.00
Philippine council 157 3,352 3.16 $10,613.12
It is sincerely hoped that our budget for 1928 can be greatly increased in order to permit us to reach and serve the ever-widening field that stretches from northern Luzon down to Zamboanga and Jolo.
Before touching briefly on the work of the standing committees of the council on which your three executives have served in the capacity of secretaries, it is in order to pay tribute to our scout commissioner, Judge Manuel Camus. Judge Camus has served efficiently during the four years of the life of the council, and although a very busy man, has never been too busy to put aside his own work and interests for those of the boys. He has been our good right hand in matters of administration and has guided us safely through the rough places and into the smooth harbors along the way. He has visited, inspected and taken part in the many activities of the Scouts, and in the minds of our boys in Manila, no scout affair is complete without the presence of their scout commissioner.
By far the most out-standing committee of the year has been that headed by Rev. E. Higdon, the committee on leadership training. In order to maintain our growth and standards and spread scouting throughout the Islands it is necessary that we have trained leaders to serve as scoutmasters and assistants. Your executives through the committee headed by Mr. Higdon, have conducted three certified training courses. One at the Union Theological Seminary, an eighteen-week course conducted by Mr. I. F. Wiltse. A course conducted by Mr. J. R. Greenan at the Ateneo de Manila had over eighty members enrolled on the opening night, and a smaller group met with our executive at the University of the Philippines. One hundred and forty-five men were enrolled in these three courses and certificates of leadership were awarded by the national council to the men completing the courses. In addition to these three certified courses, six short period courses were held in the field by Messrs. Greenan and Wiltse at Cebu, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Vigan, Lingayen and Olangapo. Plans are now under way for reaching and training a much greater number during 1928.
The camping committee under the leadership of Col. W. L. Patterson has had very little to do owing to the fact that it was decided early in the year not to try and conduct a council camp this year but to encourage the individual troops to conduct their own hikes and camps. The committee realized the impossibility of trying to bring the scouts that are scattered all over the Islands to one central camping point and so this idea was abandoned.
The individual troops have not been idle during the vacation periods and reports received by the committee show that there have been conducted 18 camps of one week or longer; 44 short term camps running from two to six days; 248 overnight hikes were taken and 427 short hikes. At the time this was written nearly half of the troops had not mailed in their report blanks giving this data. The chairman of the camping committee has held many conferences with the executive covering the work of this committee, and has secured tents and other property for the use of the scouts at their service stations at the Carnival. It is with a keen regret that we gave him up in February for his return to the United States.
The Chairman of our court of honor has spent a portion of the year in the United States and this is probably one reason that it is necessary for the committee to report falling off in advancement for 1927. We did not meet the standard set during 1926.
A large part of the loss in advancement was due to a change in the method of conducting the court. Owing to the growth in attendance at the former meetings of the court; it was decided to break up the court and hold district meetings in different sections of the city so that the large crowd could be accommodated and at the same time the boys would not have to go so far from home to attend. Several of these district courts have functioned well, but some of them have not made the grade and so there will have to be a change made for 1928.
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| 1929 |
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| 1930 |
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| 1931 |
Scout WILLIAM WARMSLEY, aged 15, tenderfoot scout of Troop No. 225, Tuguagarao, Cagayan, P. I., rescued two young ladies, Ruth Hawkins and Ida Schermerhorn from drowning. The accident occurred in the Cagayan River, where a party of picnickers were enjoying an outing. Miss Schermerhorn offered to teach Miss Hawkins to swim. By accident, however, Miss Hawkins slipped off the shelf of the basin of the river into a channel and was swept by the current into the deeper part of the river. Her friend, seeing her dangerous plight, went to her assistance. Miss Hawkins grabbed her and both of them sank. After a short struggle Miss Schermerhorn was able to free herself and swam to shallow water, but returned again to rescue her companion. On the top of the hill Scout Warmsley and another boy were cooking their lunch when they heard the cries and saw the two girls struggling for their lives in the water. He ran and plunged in without taking time to pull off his uniform or shoes. He was able to control the girls and towed them to shore by swimming. Only his prompt action and strong leadership in controlling the frantic girls prevented a fatality.
List of 52 Harmon Foundation scholarship scouts, 1931
Name and council | Age | Service as scout
Yrs. Mos.
Navarro, Manuel D., Philippine | 19 | 3 8
Rivera, Gines, Philippine | 17 | 3 6
Soledad, Bernabe, Philippine | 18 | 3
ACTIVITIES OF THE CATHOLIC COMMITTEE ON SCOUTING 2. Several splendid articles on scouting in the Philippine Islands have appeared in Missions, the official organ of the Society of Jesuits. These articles were written by Father J. E. Haggerty, S. J., who has just returned from the Philippine Islands.
Scouting is not confined to the Unites States proper, but has had a notable development in our outlying possessions, especially the Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. The council in the Philippine Islands was established early in 1925 under the direction of Mr. Macfarlane as Scout executive. Under his leadership, organization policies were established and procedures adopted under the necessity of meeting problems which had not before been encountered in scouting. This was genuine pioneering. During the three years of Mr. Macfarlane's incumbency, thousands of Filipino boys were brought in touch with scouting. Since the beginning of 1930, Mr. Ernest E. Voss has served the council as Scout executive with remarkable success. The organization is being stabilized, local financial support is being developed, Scout advancement has been stimulated, and training courses have been conducted. A fine start has been made in establishing district organization, with the result that already scouting has been taken to the furthest sections of the archipelago. Mr. Voss, without paid assistance but with the support of a devoted group of volunteers, has succeeded in establishing scouting not only extensively throughout the islands, but on a basis which has every appearance of being permanent. In Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands, special problems have had to be met due to frequent changes in troop leadership and to the presence of many different racial groups.
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| 1932 |
The National Court of Honor has recently made an award of six Gold Honor Medals to Boy Scouts for outstanding bravery in saving lives at extreme personal risk. ... Scout William Warmsley, fifteen, a Tenderfoot Scout of Troop No. 225, Tuguegarao, Cagayan, P. I., rescued the Misses Ida Schermerhorn and Ruth Hawkins from drowning in the Cagayan River. The first named girl was trying to teach her friend to swim. Both got into deep water. Without removing his clothing, Warmsley leaped in and dragged them to safety.
THE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL TREE PLANTING Even as far away as the Philippine Islands Scout Troops are participating in the tree planting program, developed as a part of the Washington Bicentennial celebration. Commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington Philippine Scouts planted a walnut tree on the grounds of the Governor General's Mansion at Baguio, Mountain Province. The program included addresses by outstanding Philippine citizens among whom were the mayor of the city, the assistant director of Forestry, a judge and James Moore, District Scout Commissioner for the Mountain Provinces and the Ilocos Provinces.
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| 1933 |
10TH ANNIVERSARY (1923–1933) OF THE BSA PHILIPPINE ISLANDS COUNCIL.
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| 1934 |
Even at our Scouting outpost in the Philippine Islands, a course for Sea Scout Leaders was given.
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| 1935 |
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| 1936 |
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| 1937 |
THEODORE ROOSEVELT Oyster Bay, Long Island October 28, 1937 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS It is unnecessary for me to tell you how warm my affection is for you, and how keen my interest is in your progress and welfare. Not a day goes past that I do not hear from or see some one of my Filipino friends. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the way you are developing and maintaining your Scout Movement. In Major Stevenot you have an exceptionally able and public spirited man. I am a very keen believer in Scouting. Here at home in the United States I give much time to it, and I have sat on the National Executive Committee for eighteen years. I can say without reservation of any sort that I believe Scouting is doing more to build citizenship in the United States than any other individual movement. What it has done and is doing for the United States it can do and will do for the Philippine Commonwealth. When I was your Governor-General, I think you know that I never told you anything which I did not believe to be the absolute truth. I want to urge you, my friends, to continue in the future as you have in the past, supporting and developing your Scout Movement. By so doing you will be rendering your country and your people a great service. Theodore Roosevelt
On and after January 1, 1938, the Philippine Islands will have its own Boy Scout organization with Exequiel Villacorta as Chief Scout Executive. He will take over the administration of Scouting throughout the islands begun by the Boy Scouts of America in 1925 which has grown to a present membership of 13,318 Scouts and 758 Cubs. After an extended tour of inspection of American Scouting activities, he presented a carved statue of a "carabao," native Philippine beast of burden, to the Chief Scout Executive "as a token of deep appreciation for what you have done for the promotion of Scouting in the Philippines."
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See also
- Americans in Philippine Scouting
References
- ↑ van Velthuyzen, John. "The Council Guide". Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- ↑ Many of them, and members of subsequent sets of officers, would later suffer incarceration, deprivation, and torture during the Japanese occupation. As non-combatants, they would not be recognised as prisoners-of-war by the Japanese. Rather, the Japanese termed them "internees," interned for their "protection." Several would die of hardship in Japanese custody. Philip Durkee Carman would be killed in an artillery attack by the Japanese.
- ↑ One copy of Scouting for Filipino Boys survives at the National Library of the Philippines, Kalaw Avenue, Rizal Park, Ermita, Manila.
- ↑ Before coming to the Philippines, A. S. Macfarlane was Scout Executive of Jacksonville Council in Jacksonville, Florida. At the same time, he ran the racist secret society Pathfinders of the Golden Trail. Possibly, he had been deputed to the Philippines to discourage the PGT. He would later become the first BSA Scout Executive of Puerto Rico.
- ↑ Philippine Education Magazine, Vol. XXIV, No. 10, Manila: Philippine Education Company, March 1928, page 574.
- ↑ William James Shaw was the name source for Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong where a small monument to him stands.
- ↑ Philippine Education Magazine, Vol. XXIV, No. 10, Manila: Philippine Education Company, March 1928, page 574.
- ↑ Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Boy Scouts of America, 1931, page 235–238
- ↑ Walsh, Stuart P., The Scoutmaster's First Six Weeks, New York: Boy Scouts of America, 1931.
- ↑ "Philippine Fete Staged by Scouts" in The New York Times, August 30, 1935
- ↑ "Almost single-handed, President Stevenot worked for the gradual grant of autonomy to our Boy Scout Organization,..." — Scouting for Filipino Boys, page 11.
- ↑ Guingona, Teofisto, The Gallant Filipino, Manila: Anvil, 1991.
Further reading
- Scouting for Filipino Boys, Volume 1, Manila: Boy Scouts of the Philippines, 1949.
- Diamond Jubilee Yearbook, Manila: Boy Scouts of the Philippines, 1996.
- Annual Report, Boy Scouts of America, 1924–1938.
- Gleeck, Lewis Edward, Jr. (1912-2005), The Manila Americans (1901–1964), Manila: Carmelo & Bauermann, 1977.
- ___, Over Seventy-five Years of Philippine-American History: The Army and Navy Club of Manila, Manila: Carmelo & Bauermann, 1976.
- Center for Internee Rights, Inc., ed, 2002, Civilian Prisoners of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands, Paducah, Kentucky: Turner.
- Stevens, Frederic Harper (1879-1982), Santo Tomas Internment Camp, New York: Stratford House, 1946.
- Boys' Life magazine, Boy Scouts of America.
- Scouting magazine, Boy Scouts of America.
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