Binay to serve second term as Asia-Pacific scout chief

MANILA, Philippines – Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay was again named chairman of the Asia Pacific Regional (APR) Scout committee until 2012.

Binay, as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, was proclaimed chairman during the 23rd APR scout conference held in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia last week.

The Makati mayor, who is also running in tandem with former President Joseph Estrada in the 2010 presidential elections, would be serving his second term as APR chairman for two more years.

Binay was elected along with new APR vice chairmen Dr. Mohammed Mukhyuddin of Malaysia and Prakorb Mukura of Thailand.

He first won the seat at the 22nd APR Scout Conference held in Tokyo, Japan in 2007.

The APR Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement has 10 representatives from member National Scout Organizations in the Asia Pacific Region who are elected by secret balloting during the regional conference.

Binay explained one of APR’s main functions is to act on behalf of the Conference between its meetings and to appoint sub-committees or study committees as may be needed.

Binay congratulated the newly elected Young Adult Members Group for 2009 to 2012 and all the participants of the 6th APR Scout Youth Forum and the Course for Leader Trainers, which preceded the conference.

Both were designed to contribute to the development of young people and training of adult leaders of the Asia-Pacific Region.

Binay commended them for giving their best in contributing to the discussions that yielded useful recommendations at the conference.

“This year’s conference theme, ‘Scouts – Capital for Peace,’ reiterates the commitment of every Scout to peace. Applying the values of scouting in our daily lives is a simple way of sending out the message of peace to echo the conference theme to motivate others to make a difference,” Binay said.

Binay said the highlights of the conference include the setting of a regional membership growth target for the next three years, and review of the APR Plan 2001-2009 and the current Vision 2013.

Some 107 young delegates and observers from Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, South Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Macau, Polynesia, and the Philippines attended the youth forum.

Binay also invited the young scouts to join the 26th APR Scout Jamboree that will be hosted by the BSP at the Makiling National Scout Reservation Camp in Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna from Dec. 29, 2009 to Jan. 3, 2010.

He said the activity aims to provide an environment of harmony, equality and respect that will enable Scouts to overcome the barrier of differing cultures, creeds and ideologies and realize the value of peace and unity, as they come to understand the importance of balancing development and ecology.

In 2007, more than 18,000 Scouts and Scout Leaders attended the 14th Philippine National Scout Jamboree in the so-called “mystic mountain” of Mt. Makiling in Laguna.