Bohol councils' meeting 

start with ASEAN Hymn

TAGBILARAN CITY, November 16, 2017 (PIA)--For the first time, over 40 members and attendees to the joint meeting of the peace and anti-drug abuse councils here in Bohol stood a tad longer as they would use to, as they sing an additional song to usual opening hymns, the ASEAN Hymn. 

The members of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and the provincial Anti-Drug Absue Council (PADAC) joined the mass singing, which came after they sang the national anthem and the Bohol hymn, in line with a Bohol directive which the governor issued recently. 

It may be recalled that Governor Edgar Chatto, who leads Bohol in coordinating for a seamless conduct of the meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting and local move of popularizing the ASEAN to the grassroots noted the need to bring the ASEAN impact more to the communities. 

Seeing the unfilled gap of information relative to the ASEAN despite the government efforts at information dissemination, the governor noted the efforts done by the Department of Education. 

He told members of the PPOC that the DepED has asked students to sing the ASEAN hymn and the mass singing inspired him. 

"We will not allow the ASEAN to pass without the impact that we need to get to the people," the governor stated during the last PPOC Meeting just as the Philippine ASEAN hosting comes to a close.

To this, the governor, through the Provincial Administrator Mitchell John Boiser issued a directive mandating the singing of the ASEAN hymn in the last two months of the year. 

Along this, the directive he issued required all government offices to sing the ASEAN hymn in line with the ASEAN spirit as he stressed in the directive that it would be a requirement for government and suggested for private groups and gatherings. 

He also issued the command to League of Municipalities of the Philippines President Clarin mayor Allen Ray Piezas to bring the message down to the mayors for their respective compliance. 

As the directive gets cascaded in time for the ending of the meetings, the PPOC and the PADAC finally stood for the hymn, for the November meeting. 

During the launching of the Philippine hosting of the ASEAN, National Organizing Committee told the governor that one of the ASEAN meetings would be in Bohol in April. 

Since then, Bohol has hosted 5 top level ASEAN related meetings the 6th upcoming this last week of November, according to emergency disaster response focal person and provincial disaster officer Anthony Damalerio. 

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers and senior officials would swoop down to Panglao for the annual meeting on ASEAN foreign policies, Gov Chatto added. 

With one more meeting set in Bohol even as the ASEAN Summits have ended this week, the directive to sing the ASEAN hymns may not really be a naught. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

PPOC and PADAC members stood and sang the ASEAN Hymn during the recent PPOC meeting after Gov Edgar Chatto issued a directive requiring government offices to sing the hymn in the last two months of 2017 in Bohol. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)