A mason as philanthropist

Title

Creator

Rasul, Jainal D.

Identifier

Portrait of

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow Volume XLII (No. 1) January 1966

Year

1966

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Portrait of. . . ?4 fflaiw By Bro. JAINAL D. RASUL Asst. Prov. Fiscal of Sulu How often do we hear of Jolo as a community of outlaws, juramentados and bandits. Perhaps this could have been due to irresponsible reporting of some newspapermen. What is dis heartening is that we don’t hear of Jolo as a producer of generals, ambas sadors and philanthropists. A long list of our Philippine generals have been, at one time or another, assigned in Jolo, trained in actual combat, in real “war”. General Mamarinta Lao, a member of the Craft, is the latest Jolo product of a long array of gen erals from General Arellano and Campo. Ambassadors Abubakar and Arpa, from Sulu, head a list of our country’s representatives abroad. In deed, we have a number of philanthro pists like Bro. Romeo Teng Ban, Bro. Garama Abubakar, Bro. Manuel Liin and others. We are interested in this article to mention one of Jolo’s philanthropists — Manuel H. Lim. a brother Mason, a native of Jolo and a father of profes sionals. I heard much of this man since the Japanese occupation in Sulu, and what he has done for Jolo and its people makes me feel sincerely obliged to relay this significant information to all brethren, the better to enable us to profit by his example. It was one sunny day in 1963 when I went to the Sulu Hospital to see my brother Dr. Darwin Rasul, a resident physician. One Mahmud Kipli, a poverty-striken patient suffering from advanced tuberculosis, was given by the doctors fifty per cent chance to live. 6 The hospital was not sufficiently fi nanced by the government and could not therefore give enough medicine free of charge to the patient. Bro. Manuel Lim was then approached for one hundred pesos cash to buy medi cine. Bro. Lim rushed to the hospital and upon seeing the patient, he prom ised to help, not with just one hun dred pesos, but with injectable medi cines and nutritious food sufficient for six months. Mahmud Kipli, after six months, recovered and is presently alive and healthy, and grateful to Bro. Manuel Lim. To satisfy Bro. Lim. Kipli wanted to repay and offered his services free of charge in Bro. Lim's big coconut and fruit plantation. Kipli’s offer was politely rejected because Bro. Lim believed that there could be no better satisfaction than the thought of having helped save one’s life. That alone, according to Bro. Lim, was sat isfactory to him. Bro. Lim has been doing this charity to Sulu people for many years. There are many “Kiplis” that have been saved by Bro. Lim un der similar circumstances. The phy sicians of the Sulu Hospital that at tend to more than 400.000 inhabitants of Sulu recognize the kindness of Bro. Lim who gave the ceiling fans, hospi1tai concrete gate and several donations now enjoyed by the people of Sulu. Perhaps, influenced by his Chinese ancestors. Bro. Lim believes, that to achieve immortality, one has to forget sometimes oneself in favor of human ity — in the fields of educational, spi ritual and civic advancement of the The.Cabletow JOLO PLAZA TULAY BANDSTAND Donated by Bro. Manuel Lim. from L to It — The author, Bro. Lim, Bro. Suyhan Tan (SD), and Bro. Rudy Lee (SS). people. Bro. Lim contributed gate iron-fence and concrete panels to the Central School in Jolo, the Jolo con crete Evangelical Church, flagpole of the Sulu Red Cross building, electric fans and other aids to DXSM, the only radio station in Sulu. The recent com munity donation he gave to Jolo is the concrete plaza Tulay Bandstand in Jolo worth almost P20,00.00 (see picture). It has been said that if Bro. Lim has not done anything for Sulu except this concrete bandstand where community, political, religious and civic rallies arc held for hundreds of thousands of cultural minorities in Sulu, this alone would entitle him and his family to the respect of the Suluanos. Bro. Manuel Lim was born in Jolo, Sulu. Bro. Lim’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ramon H. Yson Lim were not more than the average or conserva tive family. That could have been the reason why Bro. Manuel Lim reached only the fourth grade in 1915. A deeply religious man, Bro. Manuel Lim, belonging to the protestant sect, sympathizes with the poor. Being humble and sensitive to human suffer ing, lie resents juvenile delinquency and considers it as due to parental faults. He has a deep sense of under standing of human nature. Once, he was approached for the hand in mar riage of his daughter, Kattie, a doc tor of Optometry now taking a master’s course in Indiana University. He an swered that if the man sincerely loved his daughter, that was good enough for him. He is a Mason who does not discriminate except with regards to the forces of evil against a sense of good ness under the Fatherhood of God. His other children are Bcatriz, a mas ter in Music now in Los Angeles, California: Nattie, B.S. Commerce now in Cebu City; Lcttv, B.S. Phar macy now in Jolo; Hattie, B.S. Edu Turn to next page January, 1966 cation in Music, now teaching in Cebu City; Samuel, Physician-Surgeon, now in San Francisco, California; Jimmie and Gemmuel, taking Agricul ture and Architecture respectively in the University of the Philippines. With Bro. Lim’s children almost all professionals, serving humanity in the different spheres of their influences, he could easily be the “Father of the Year” medalist of Sulu. Brother Manuel II. Lim was initiated as an entered apprentice Ma son on March 10, 1954, passed to the degree of fellowcraft on November 25, 1954 and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason on December 2, 1954. He was conferred the 32 degree on March 8, 1956. As a Mason, he never fails to attend Lodge Meetings or res pond to the call of a brother in distress. He is a Mason in deed. There was one occasion which prompted me to ask personal ques tions to Bro. Lim. We were just through from Labor in the Lodge. While we were about to take a pedi cab, he asked the driver: “How much?” “Twenty centavos," answered the driver. Bro Lim refused to pay. He said it should only be fifteen cen tavos since his house was very near the Temple. Because to me five centavos would not make any difference con sidering Bro. Lim’s affluence, I asked Bro. Lim why? I thought he would answer me that he had no small change. But surprisingly, he gave me an ex planation that was almost philosophical and satisfying. Bro. Lim said to me: “In this temporal world, everybody is in need—in need financially, spirit ually, socially, and educationally. We must study the needs of a person. A rich man may not need money or a healthy man may not need medicine or a priest may not need spiritual guid ance or advice. Don’t give them what they don't need. But there arc always needs of man that you are called upon to give or a gap to fill in every person. The driver you saw,” Bro. Lim con tinued, “was robust and healthy. He was not in real need. He wore good clothes. If I kept five centavos when I should not give it for the sake of giving, in fifty times a month, I would be able to help needy persons like a sick man, a hungry person or a wor ried accused from immediate disaster or catastrophe. That is the difference between thrift and extravagance; bet ween foolishness and wisdom ; between foresight and selfishness.” Then Bro. Lim left me. I was astounded as if I had just heard a pagoda view! Jolo and its people are indeed for tunate to have Bro. Lim in their midst, as a man. as a Mason, as a fa ther and as a law-abiding citizen of our Republic. The Sulu Masons are proud of Bro. Manuel H. Lim. A AAA For better service and special prices SHOP & SAVE at LOYAL TRADING & DEPARTMENT STORE 553 Pizal Avenue, Manila - between Raon & Ronquillo Sts. Tel. 3-34-21 Contact Bro. Hotchand N. Murjani, Proprietor The Cabletow

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