Tagum hosts Asean Scout Jamboree

TAGUM CITY — About 30,000 scouts from 20 countries have joined the 6th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Scout Jamboree that opened here on Monday.

Touted as the largest scouting event in Mindanao, the weeklong international event drew participants from the 10 Asean member states, as well as from other countries outside the region, local officials and organizers said.

Indonesia sent the largest international delegation with 137 participants. Davao City had the biggest delegation among the 121 local scouting councils.

In his welcome message, Mayor Allan Rellon said the event was an avenue “to make friends, develop camaraderie and contribute to the growth and stability of the scouting movement in the Asean region.”

Other participants came from Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, Macau, Kuwait and South Korea.

More than 1,300 soldiers, policemen and other law enforcement and security personnel provided security in and around Energy Park in Apokon village, where most of the activities were being held, said Chief Insp. Andrea dela Cerna, Southern Mindanao police spokesperson.

In 1993, the Philippines hosted the first Asean Scout Jamboree on Mt. Makiling in Laguna province. —Frinston Lim