The Boy Scouts of the Philippines Bohol Chapter (BSP-Bohol) received its 5^th Lorillard Spencer Award last February 19 during awarding ceremonies at the Sison Auditorium in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

BSP Bohol Council Chair Gov. Edgar M. Chatto announced the good news and thanked the BSP National Office in his speech in front of council members during Thursday’s Annual Council Meeting.

“Another good news,” said the governor, “is that out of 121 councils nationwide, BSP-Bohol was the only council in the Visayas and Mindanao area which landed in the top 5 as one of the finalists.”

Thus, this paved the way for the Council to again, be given the prestigious Lorillard Spencer Award for being the Best Council nationwide, its fifth successive award since 2012.

“Everyone deserves a pat in the back,” he said, “for we must have done something right to deserve the award.”

“And we should be proud for we are now 69,138 strong and still growing in number,” he added.

Council members from all over Bohol flocked to the conference hall of Panda Tea Garden in Tagbilaran City for said annual meeting, filling the room to the brim.

To spice up the assemblage, Businessman Engr. Jerome Auza shared his life story with fellow scouters and testified how scouting helped him through trials and through life.

He recounted how, right after the earthquake, his long-dormant scouting skills resurfaced when he experienced hardships in his supposed to be mundane everyday chores.

After experiencing too many boggling tasks due to the absence of both water and electricity in most areas in the province, he said he had an enlightenment.

“I came to realize that despite all the trainings and lessons that we are teaching our young scouts, we never bothered to teach them about money management skills and personal finance,” he said.

“That,” he continued, “no matter how adept we are in our respective fields of expertise, everyday life skills like simple money management are so hard to do without proper background and training.”

Engr. Auza then urged every scout inside the hall to include the subject of personal finance in future boy scout trainings, which earned the nod of the crowd.

Regional Scout Director Atty. Bienvenido Toledo was the Council’s guest of honor and speaker. (JLV/PGBh/EDCom)