The latest episode on gender sensitivity came in the form of Memorandum No. 47 approved last Aug. 26, wherein the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) announced that they will now be accepting girls to the Boy Scouts! Say that again? Girls will now be lumped together with boys? Well, apparently, girls between the ages of 13 to 17 will be accepted into Boy Scouting! Mind you, these ages are very critical formative years of our youth and certainly someone is trying to monkey around with these.
I don’t know who started this cockamamie idea, but it is the most absurd thing that I have ever heard in all my life! While most schools are now what we call "co-ed" where boys and girls are mixed in classrooms, that’s not really a problem... but the reason why I oppose girls as Boy Scouts is because they already have a Girl Scout movement... it is that simple!
That memorandum was purportedly signed by BSP Secretary General J. Rizal C. Pangilinan, who said that the National Executive Board gave four reasons for allowing girls into the Boy Scouts and foremost among them is to "provide equal opportunities and equal partnership (to) young people within scouting." Equal opportunities? For the workplace, yes! But in Scouting? I don’t know what this Secretary General Pangilinan means by that... but I’m just curious who demanded this "equal opportunity"?
The Americans have a saying, "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!" What I would like to know is, what’s wrong with keeping Boy and Girl Scouts separate? No one was complaining! This makes me wonder what would happen when these kids would go camping and there would only be one toilet and one bath for both sexes. When that happens, the "mingled Scouts" would now sleep together in the same tent all in the name of equal opportunity? If the BSP pushes through with this, I’m sure that the heavens would growl... hopefully it won’t be followed with fire and brimstone!
I’m glad that Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama and BSP-Cebu Council Chairman Hernan Streegan vehemently opposed this move owing to the present difficulties that the Boy Scouts are having like having the wrong kind of leadership. Yes, I’m referring to BSP National President Jejomar Binay who until now hasn’t withdrawn that stupid memorandum owing to his current political problems. Yes, Scouting in this country has become too politicized, just like sports and everything else!
Naturally, Girl Scouts of the Philippines acting National President Susan R. Locsin also opposed this move and issued a resolution objecting to it. At this point, I enjoin our readers to call their congressman or bang on the doors of their offices and present their objections to this stupidity! I would go further even to ask for the resignation of the entire BSP National Executive Committee, starting with Mayor Binay himself! What’s next? Gays will now become Girl Scouts? Please, give us a break.
Remember Negros Navigation Co. (Nenaco), which we featured in the past for not paying the Tsuneishi shipyard in Balamban, Cebu for the repair of its vessels? Nenaco, no doubt, used our snail-paced judicial system to get away from paying its creditors by having itself placed under receivership. Well, we learned that its parent company, Metro Pacific, doled out some P250 million for its rehabilitation. That’s new money being poured into this company, which still has a string of debts in the millions! Good governance dictates that its parent company ought to have settled its debts first before going into a rehab, instead of using the courts to deny its creditors the money they had earned for an honest day’s work!
The latest we heard about Nenaco is it is looking for $7 million to modernize its dilapidated fleet. Again this means new money will soon be poured into this company that’s supposed to be under a court receivership. I hope the courts are aware of this plan. Surely our judges realize that they have been used by this company to ward off its creditors... or are they part and parcel of this game plan? From my viewpoint, it is like going to a restaurant and after having your fill, you sign your bill and leave. When the bill collector comes, instead of paying, you go to court to have you declared under receivership and continue with your business as usual. Shameful!
The article we wrote about Ms. Luli Arroyo’s brush with an immigration officer got a deluge of e-mailed responses. Here are a couple of them:
"Dear Mr. Avila, I already experienced being on the same plane with Ms. Luli Arroyo. She was simple, humble, walang hangin, no bodyguards or alalay, and most of all, she never asked for VIP treatment. That incident at the NAIA was a clear example of the arrogance of a few persons in government who are drunk with power and worse, it was a clear example of how Filipinos are being discriminated RIGHT IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY!
"Even security guards at the airports and at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila are arrogant and strict on their fellow Filipinos but are very lax on foreigners. If they can do that to a presidential daughter, then pity those who are not. Very truly yours, Antonio Burgos, Ilocos Sur <ntn_burgos@yahoo.com>"
Here’s another e-mail from Nes Baricante (neselsie@netvigator.com):
"Dear Sir Bobit, Actually immigration people are not so rude with foreigners, I think. They are more rude to us OFWs. It is always dreadful passing through the immigration (counter) in going in and out of the country, especially during Christmas time when you arrive from abroad with some goodies for relatives.
"I have one experience that even the security guard frisking us would usually ask for loose change that they could find in our pocket or the ones we were asked to put on a tray. Very disgusting but we OFWs have no choice but to pass through them. Even in the comfort room when you relieve, the cleaner assigned there is asking for money. Nakakainis na nakakahiya. Thanks God, Luli experienced it and it serves well for Padlan for his arrogance. God bless!"
For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable. Bobit’s columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com.