Excerpt from the:

COCKTALES
By Victor Agustin
Inquirer
Last updated 11:13pm (Mla time) 10/22/2006

Published on page B3 of the October 23, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


Scout attack

HOW would you like your girl scout daughter or younger sister to go out on a jamboree and share the same camp with boy scouts?

The Girl Scouts of the Philippines is not only horrified at the thought, but revolted that a bill has been filed in Congress that could end up forcing the marriage of the girl scouts group with the boy scouts’.

A bill filed by Makati Rep. Agapito Aquino renaming the Boy Scouts of the Philippines into Scouts Philippines has already passed third and final reading in the House.

But, even before the bill could be passed by the Senate and enacted into law, the Boy Scouts have already been recruiting girls from 14 years up to join their movement.

The Boy Scouts, incidentally, is headed by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, while the Girl Scouts count on no less than Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as chief scout.

According to the grapevine, Girl Scouts president Teresita Choa is now working on GMA’s congressional allies to not only block the Aquino bill but also push for the passage of a separate Girl Scouts bill to ensure that the corporate identity of the female group remains.

More than the gender divide, the Girl Scouts also has a number of real estate holdings in key cities throughout the country.