ABOUT
We are the Zeta Omega chapter of Alpha Phi Omega Philippines Service Fraternity and Sorority- an international organization of college students and alumni dedicated to volunteerism, united by brotherhood and founded on the principles of the International Scouting Movement. We have made a home of the University of the Philippines Cebu College since 1979 and the campus and its immediate communities have been the prime beneficiaries of our service projects and social activities. Zeta Omega has produced more than a hundred service-oriented leaders in around three decades and will continue to do so.
Read more about Alpha Phi Omega through the links below:
The Story Behind the Founding by Dr. Frank Reed Horton, Founder of Alpha Phi Omega
The History of Alpha Phi Omega in the Philippines
The Story Behind the Founding
by Frank Reed Horton, Founder
During the first world war, I served as an ensign in the United States Navy aboard a minesweeper in the North Sea. Our ship and its partner exploded more than 1,000 magnetic mines. My law school background at Boston University led to my appointment to try court martial cases in our Division. When we reached ports some of the sailors ran wild. Many court martial cases resulted. I saw young boys in their teens getting into trouble.
Because of these experiences, I made a firm resolution within myself that if I returned alive, I would try to do two things and do them with all my power. First, do my best to help young people get the right start in life by holding up before them a “standard of manhood” that would withstand the test of time! Second and just as important, try to help the nations of the world settle their disputes in a more sensible and legal manner than by war.
After the war, I became a student at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. One evening, while attending an American Legion banquet during my sophomore year, I sat next to an inspiring man named Herbert G. Horton. We were not related but we became fast friends. He, too, had been a naval officer but was now serving as the local Scout Executive. He helped me to become a Deputy Scout Commissioner. One of the troops needed a leader, so I became a Scoutmaster as well.
Through these experiences, I found that the Scout Oath and Law were what I had been seeking – a standard of manhood that would withstand the test of time and a code of ideals created and accepted by some of the greatest leaders the world has ever known.
The summer of my junior year was spent as an Associate Camp Director at the Easton Scout Reservation. Here I was impressed with the religious tolerance in the hearts of the boys. This I have not found so easily among older people. Scouts of the Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant faiths worked together in everything at camp, and everyone had an opportunity to worship on his Sabbath in his own way.
My Brothers in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity house, where I lived, who were outstanding for high ideals and clean living, were all former Scouts. I felt a college organization should be formed that would strengthen men in these ideals, and give them an opportunity for Leadership experience and for Service to others.
As a senior at Lafayette College, I talked to some of the men with a Scouting background and the response was good. These men would join an organization based on the ideals of Scouting. I created the name Alpha Phi Omega, the motto and the Greek words and their meaning and wrote the Ritual. Everett W. Probst designed the pin and drew the Coat-of-Arms. Thane S. Cooley suggested the handclasp. Ellsworth S. Dobson and Gordon M. Looney helped write the Constitution and Bylaws.
Fourteen undergraduates signed as charter Members. Scouting advisors were Dr. Ray O. Wyland and Herbert G. Horton.
The Lafayette College Faculty approved the petition for recognition. On December 16, 1925, I conducted the Ritual Initiation at Brainerd Hall, second floor, and Alpha Phi Omega was born.
My purpose was to make Alpha Phi Omega an organization for college men who cooperated with all youth movements, especially Scouting. I also anticipated that our Service program would expand to help people in need everywhere and to do service on the campus of each Chapter.
As Scouting is worldwide, so should Alpha Phi Omega be worldwide, gradually in the colleges and universities of all the nations. Alpha Phi Omega can help bring about, through the future statesmen of the world, that standard of manhood and international understanding and friendship that will lead to a better, more peaceful world in which to live and in which to make a living and a life.
The History of Alpha Phi Omega in the Philippines
By the year 1950, it already had 227 chapters from coast to coast. It reached the Philippine shores and found a new home in the archipelago of 7100 islands in the same year [1950].
The Republic of the Philippines then was only four years old. The Boy Scout movement founded by LORD BADEN-POWELL in Great Britain was organized in the Philippines in 1923; in 1950, as now, many Filipinos where actively participating in the movement.
One evening that year, Scouters in Manila were invited to a conference with a certain SOL LEVY from Washington State, USA. Brother Levy expressed the desire to organize Alpha Phi Omega in the Philippines. He gave a short talk and distributed some copies of three APO publications: Questions and Answers, National Constitution and By-Laws and Ritual Rites and Ceremonies.
LIBRADO I. URETA, an Eagle Scout and a graduate student at Far Eastern University, Manila, was among the audience. Inspired by Brother Levy’s words, he read the publications and shared them with fellow Eagle Scouts and students on the FEU campus. He asked their opinion about Brother Levy’s desire and the response was good. On 2 March 1950, Alpha Phi Omega International Service Fraternity was founded at Nicanor Reyes Sr. Hall, Room 214, FEU. The charter members were:
- LIBRADO I. URETA
- IGNACIO J. SEVILLA SR.
- ROMEO Y. ATIENZA
- GUILLERMO R. PADOLINA
- GODOFREDO P. NERIC
- LEONARDO R. OSORIO
- RALPH G. HAWKINS
- ALFREDO DE LOS REVES
- BONIFACIO V. LAZCANO
- LAMBERTO T. DOMINNGUEZ
- MAX M. VELASCO
After early preparations, a petition for official status and copies of the publications were sent to the FEU administration. Few days after, the university recognized the organization.
Alpha Phi Omega grew rapidly and healthy in the Philippines; in its third year when seven chapters had been chartered on Manila and Visayan campuses, it was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a nonstock, nonprofit and nondividend corporation. Alpha Phi Omega (Phil.) Inc. was the first country to be chartered outside the USA. Although it is separate and independent from its mother country, it adheres to the cardinal principles designed by Brother Frank Reed Horton. The pin and revised coat-of-arms created by EVERETT W. PROBST, one of the original members, were adopted. However, the handclasp was patterned from the Boy Scouts’ and not from that of THANE S. COOLEY.
Extracted from “The APO History” in “Alpha Phi Omega Torch and Trefoil” diamond jubilee program for the 13th National Biennial Convention, Boy Scouts of the Philippines, Mt. Makiling, Los Banos, Languna, Philippines, December 1985. First sentence and notes in brackets added by Brother Bill Wells, September 1993.
Zeta Omega History
The Alpha Phi Omega International Collegiate Service Fraternity and Sorority in the University of the Philippines Cebu College was established on August 12, 1979 by Brother Frederick Mercado, Regional Development Director (RDD) for Region VII from Alpha Mu Chapter, University of San Carlos, Cebu City. In organizing the APO-UPCC, he was aided by then residents of UPCC Brother Edgar Abao of Gamma Pi (U.P. Baguio) and Sister Elena Larrazabal of Alpha Chi chapter (University of the Visayas).
Brothers Paul Anacion of Alpha Delta chapter (San Sebastian College), Virgilio Gonzales and Antonio Basar, both from Alpha Mu, served as APO Alumni Advisers.
APO-UPCC’s pioneering batch, named “Simultaneous Contrast (Batch)”, was composed of:
For the Fraternity:
- Stanley Uriarte
- Jose Brillo Villaver
- Eleno Macabenta
- Andrew Laurel Ciriago
For the Sorority:
- Henrieta Patalinhug
- Ma. Obette Espigadera
- Flor Mercado
- Elva Albacite
- Arlene Villaver
After five years of being a petitioning chapter, the APO-UPCC was chartered as ZETA OMEGA CHAPTER and was included into the official roster of Alpha Phi Omega Philippine chapters on October 7, 1984. The charter members were:
- Stanley Uriarte
- Jose Brillo Villaver
- Eleno Macabenta
- Andrew Laurel Ciriago
- Avalemar Manansala
- Edmund Jamillaren
- Albert Magalang
- Michael Pagalangga
- Carlo F. Reyes
- Lindy N. Roa
- Ronald Jeffrey G. Manulid
- Edgar Garcia
- Fortunato O. Basio Jr.
- Ricardo Mondragon
- Todd Gonzales
- Othello Caday
- Carlos Viscarra
By this time, the Sorority grew healthily in membership, however the Zeta Omega Chapter Sorority was officially recognized by the National Office eighteen years later on September 21, 2002. The sisters who represented the sorority were:
- Checille Naig
- Kimberly Niere
- Benneth Bernardo
- Gisela Dacaynos
- Jhoanna Roslin
Subscribe to Feed
Email Updates