MANILA-- The Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) targets to increase its 2.6 million membership to at least 2.8 million by end of the year, BSP Secretary General Rogelio Villa said Friday.
The target is in line with the Vision 2023 of the World Organization of the Scout Movement to engage 100 million members within five years.
"We target 2.8 million by end of the year, we already have 2.6 million as of April 2018," he told the Philippine News Agency.
Of the current count, Villa said 2.2 million are from the youth sector, while the remaining are volunteers. Meanwhile, 98 percent of the youth members are school-based and the other two percent are out-of-school.
Encouraging more Filipinos to be part of the scouting movement, Villa said anyone - from age 6 to 24 - can register as member of the BSP.
"Walk-ins are welcome, they can go to any of our local council offices nationwide," he said.
"The scouting movement now is to think of ways to bring the youth back to the adventure of seeking nature, converting their time more productively by way of engaging them with community projects," he added.
BSP members are entitled to participate in all the organization's programs. Currently, it is mobilizing its members through community projects such as peace development, disaster preparedness, and environmental protection.
"They go to the mountains and deal with indigenous people, they also do community projects, build houses, toilets, clean up communities, plant trees, or save our coasts. These are really the things that they enjoy, so I think, slowly, we are gaining our footing," he said. (PNA)
