APO Philippines


…History of APO Philippines

By the year 1950, it already had 227 chapters from coast to coast. It reached the Philippine shores and found a new home in the archipelago of 7100 islands in the same year [1950].
The Republic of the Philippines then was only four years old. The Boy Scout movement founded by LORD BADEN-POWELL in Great Britain was organized in the Philippines in 1923; in 1950, as now, many Filipinos where actively participating in the movement.
One evening that year, Scouters in Manila were invited to a conference with a certain SOL LEVY from Washington State, USA. Brother Levy expressed the desire to organize Alpha Phi Omega in the Philippines. He gave a short talk and distributed some copies of three APO publications: Questions and Answers, National Constitution and By-Laws and Ritual Rites and Ceremonies.
LIBRADO I. URETA, an Eagle Scout and a graduate student at Far Eastern University, Manila, was among the audience. Inspired by Brother Levy’s words, he read the publications and shared them with fellow Eagle Scouts and students on the FEU campus. He asked their opinion about Brother Levy’s desire and the response was good. On 2 March 1950, Alpha Phi Omega International Service Fraternity was founded at Nicanor Reyes Sr. Hall, Room 214, FEU. The charter members were:
* LIBRADO I. URETA
* IGNACIO J. SEVILLA SR.
* ROMEO Y. ATIENZA
* GUILLERMO R. PADOLINA
* GODOFREDO P. NERIC
* LEONARDO R. OSORIO
* RALPH G. HAWKINS
* ALFREDO DE LOS REVES
* BONIFACIO V. LAZCANO
* LAMBERTO T. DOMINGUEZ
* MAX M. VELASCO
After early preparations, a petition for official status and copies of the publications were sent to the FEU administration. Few days after, the university recognized the organization.
Alpha Phi Omega grew rapidly and healthy in the Philippines; in its third year when seven chapters had been chartered on Manila and Visayan campuses, it was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a nonstock, nonprofit and nondividend corporation. Alpha Phi Omega (Phil.) Inc. was the first country to be chartered outside the USA. Although it is separate and independent from its mother country, it adheres to the cardinal principles designed by Brother Frank Reed Horton. The pin and revised coat-of-arms created by EVERETT W. PROBST, one of the original members, were adopted. However, the handclasp was patterned from the Boy Scouts’ and not from that of THANE J. COOLEY.
Extracted from “The APO History” in “Alpha Phi Omega Torch and Trefoil” diamond jubilee program for the 13th National Biennial Convention, Boy Scouts of the Philippines, Mt. Makiling, Los Banos, Languna, Philippines, December 1985. First sentence and notes in brackets added by Brother Bill Wells, September 1993.