Philippine Islands Council (Boy Scouts of America)


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. Since the end of the war, Boy Scouts of America in the Philippines have fallen under the Far East Council.

Chronology

YEAREVENTS
1923
  • On 5 October, the Rotary Club of Manila and its President Charles Russell Zeininger hold a meeting with many of Manila's prominent men. The meeting results in the formation of a Manila Boy Scout Council. The founding/charter members are all prominent figures in the commercial, political, social, and cultural scene of Manila. Most hold simultaneous memberships in a number of organizations, such as the YMCA, the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, the Masons, the Elks, the Army and Navy Club, etc. Most, if not all, are members of the Rotary Club of Manila. Scouting for Filipino Boys, volume 1, gives the names of twenty men. The Diamond Jubilee Yearbook adds the names of A. B. Cresap and Dee C. Chuan. These 22 would serve as the first BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 executive board for a year:
  • In November the Rotary Club of Manila informs BSA National Headquarters in New York that the Manila Council had been formally organised.
  • On 27 December the Rotary Club of Manila receives communication from BSA Headquarters recognizing the Council as BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545, giving it jurisdiction over the entire archipelago.
1924
  • BSA Chief Scout Executive James Edward West appoints as the full-time Scout Executive of the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545.
  • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 333 boys.
    • 1925
  • The BSA's Scouting magazine, , reports:
    • 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.
    • The 7th Far Eastern Championship Games are held in Manila, 17–22 May, with Boy Scouts assisting.
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 1854 boys.
    1926
  • Irving F. Wiltse and Joseph R. Greenan are appointed as Assistant Scout Executives for Luzón and the Visayas respectively.
  • In his article "Boy Scouts in the Philippines" in Philippine Education Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, September 1926, Lorenzo C. Alcantara reports:
    • 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 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.
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 2094 boys.
    1927
  • The 1927 officers of the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 are:
  • Silliman Institute BSA Troop 47 is organised by initiative of James Wittenmyer Chapman.
  • The BSA's Boys' Life magazine, , reports:
    • 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."
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 3352 boys.
    1928
  • The annual meeting of the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 is held on Monday evening, January 30, 1928, at the American Chamber of Commerce at 8:00–10:15 p.m. The 1928 officers of the Council are presented:
  • The Philippine Education Magazine, Vol. XXIV, No. 10, March 1928, pages 574–576, in a larger article by Assistant Scout Executive Irving F. Wiltse, features this "Summary of Annual Report":
    • 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 3,607.86
    Troop registrations 3,249.78
    Stock on hand 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.
    • Activities: 1 Council meeting, 27 Council committee meetings, 69 training courses.
    • Socio-civic services rendered: assistance at Memorial Day commemoration, participation in Red Cross campaign, special service during typhoon in Leyte.
    • Council Headquarters burns on 11 December.
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 4724 boys.
    1929
  • The American Chamber of Commerce Journal, January 1929, page 16, reports that there are Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls at Welfareville.
  • José Caoili succeeds Joseph R. Greenan as Assistant Scout Executive.
  • Dwight Filley Davis, Governor-General of the Philippines, becomes the Honorary President of the Philippine Islands Council.
  • Manuél Luís Quezon y Molina, Sergio Osmeña, and Manuél Roxas y Acuña are elected as Honorary Vice Presidents of the Philippine Islands Council.
  • The BSA Boys' Life magazine, , features an article titled "Barongs and Scout Staves" by Henry F. Phelan, about Scouting on Mindanáo.
  • The BSA's Scouting magazine, , features a full-length article, "Scout Juan Advances: A Graphic Glimpse of Scouting in the Philippine Islands" by Rev. Winthrop Theodore Allison, Scoutmaster, Troop 213, Tagbilaran, Bohol.
  • The BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 starts carrying a complete stock of supplies.
  • Publication of the Philippine Boy Scout starts in November.
  • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 4931 boys and men.
    • 1930
  • Four Philippine Islands Council officers are appointed delegates to the BSA National Council: Manuél Roxas Camus, Fr. James Edward Haggerty SJ, Joseph Henry Schmidt, and Everett Stanton Turner.
  • Seven Scouts are awarded the BSA Lifesaving Medal.
  • The Troop Rating Plan is adopted.
  • Typhoon relief service rendered in Leyte, Misamis, and Cebú.
  • The Philippine Boy Scout is discontinued.
  • The first two Sea Scout ships are started.
  • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 6092 boys and men.
    • 1931
  • The , reports:
    • 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 United 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.
    • Four Philippine Islands Council officers are appointed delegates to the BSA National Council: Manuél Roxas Camus, Philip Durkee Carman, Arthur Frederick Fischer, and Frank Bassett Ingersoll.
    • The BSA's Boys' Life magazine , reports, in text and photographs, that three Eagle Scouts of the Philippine Islands Council are among the 52 BSA Eagle Scout recipients of the Harmon Foundation Scholarship. They are:
    • Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Governor-General of the Philippines, becomes the Honorary President of the Philippine Islands Council.
    • The Philippine territory is divided into twelve field Scouting districts.
    • The commissioner staff is expanded.
    • Organization of administrative committees is started.
    • The Five-Year Program is adopted.
    • Experiments in Sea Scouting and Cub Scouting are conducted.
    • Work on a Philippine Boy Scout handbook is started, with Honorio Pobladór as Chairman of the Editorial Board.
    • Fr. Edward James Haggerty, S.J. receives the P.I. Council's first Silver Carabao.
    • BSA Boys' Life magazine, , shows a photograph of four Scouts with the caption: " Below the ramparts of old Fort Santiago this efficient Troop of Manila, P.I., carries on its activities"
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 7881 boys and men.
    1932
  • The heroism of Scout William Warmsley of Tuguegaráo in 1931 is mentioned by James Edward West in :
    • 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.
    • Four sections of the Commissioner's Handbook are released.
    • The Ten-Year Program is adopted.
    • Three Scouts of the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 are awarded the Gold Medal for saving life.
    • The BSA Shanghai District is placed under the jurisdiction of the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545.
    • The BSA's Scouting magazine, , reports:
    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.
    • Boys' Life, Vol. XXII, No. 7, July 1932, page 50, announces the award of the Silver Buffalo on Dwight Filley Davis for active "support of Scouting in the Philippines while Governor General of the Islands", 1929–32.
    • Ninety-five percent of the year's objectives are achieved.
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 8421 boys and men.
    193310TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BSA PHILIPPINE ISLANDS COUNCIL.
    • The BSA Philippine Islands Council delegation of 6 Scouts and 1 Scouter joins the Boy Scouts of America contingent to the 4th World Scout Jamboree in Gödöllő, Pest, Budapesti agglomeráció, Magyarország. They are: Antonio de León, Antonio Concepción Delgado, Pablo Delgado, José Hermán, Mariano Serrano, Vicente Kierulf, and Scoutmaster Wencesláo O. Cruz.
    • The Manuel Camus Membership Campaign is launched.
    • The BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 qualifies for the President Roosevelt Award.
    • Two important BSA pamphlets, The Troop Committee and , are made available.
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 10,445 boys and men.
    1934
  • Arthur Frederick Fischer, Director of the Bureau of Forestry, issues Special Order No. 52, March 27, 1934, directing Forestry staff to prepare a Boy Scout forestry handbook.
  • General progress is noted in several phases of Boy Scouting.
  • The Rover scheme is introduced in the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545.
  • The 10th Far Eastern Championship Games are held in Manila, 16–20 May, with Boy Scouts assisting.
  • The BSA's Scouting magazine, , mentions:
    • Even at our Scouting outpost in the Philippine Islands, a course for Sea Scout Leaders was given.
    • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 10,691 boys and men.
    1935
  • BSA Chief Scout Executive James Edward West appoints Ernest Earl Voss, Jr. as the Scout Executive of the BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545.
  • The first National Jamboree of the BSA, scheduled for 21–30 August in Washington, D.C., is cancelled due to a polio outbreak. The BSA Philippine Islands Council contingent of 32 boys and 3 men tour the USA making presentations of Philippine culture. In the BSA's Boys' Life magazine , BSA Chief Scout Executive James Edward West, in words and photographs, reports on the tour and exhibitions by the BSA Philippine Islands Council contingent.
  • The Five-Year Program concluded.
  • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 15,178 boys and men.
    • 1936
  • The Boy Scouts of the Philippines organization is founded through the efforts of BSA Philippine Islands Council President Josephus Emile Hamilton Stevenot, supported by the vital roles played by Tomás Confesór and Manuel Quezon. Stevenot, the actual Founder, performs the actual organizational work of establishing the BSP. He prepares the draft document for the BSP's establishment and lobbies the proposal at the National Assembly. Stevenot enlists the support of six socially-prominent men to lend their names as "charter members" of the organization: Jorge Bartolomé Vargas y Celis, Carlos Peña Romulo, General Vicente Podico Lim, Judge Manuél Roxas Camus, Arsenio Nicasio Katigbák Luz, and Gabriél A. Daza. Assemblyman Tomás Valenzuela Confesór of the 3rd District of Iloilo, sponsors the Commonwealth Assembly Bill that would become the organization's "articles of incorporation." After its passage by the Assembly, Confesor’s bill is signed into law on 31 October as Commonwealth Act 111 by His Excellency Manuél Luís Quezon y Molina, President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
  • BSA Philippine Islands Council #545 membership: 16,974 boys and men.
    • 1937
  • Exequiél Villacorta, Scoutmaster of the BSA Philippine Islands Council contingent to the aborted 1935 BSA National Jamboree, goes to the USA to attend the BSA National Training School and what becomes the first BSA National Jamboree. He stays for six months, attending courses and conferences in the USA and Canada.
  • The BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 officials meet on 11 October and resolve to transfer the Council's jurisdiction, authority, and assets to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines organization.
  • Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., former Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, writes to the Filipino people in connection with Scouting:
    • 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
    • The President Quezon Membership Campaign launched.
    • The National Building Fund Campaign is started.
    • The BSA's Boys' Life magazine , announces the separation of the Philippines from the Boy Scouts of America:
    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."
    • The BSA Philippine Islands Council No. 545 turns over its assets and its jurisdiction for Filipino boys to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines on 31 December.