By way of explanation

Title

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow Volume XXXIX (Issue No. 4) October 1963

Year

1963

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

BY WAY OF EXPLANATION Our attention has been called by several brethren to the fourth para graph of the editorial "Fil-American Friendship" in The Cabletow (Vol. XXXIX, No. 1) for July, 1963, p. 5. We will quote the whole paragraph so as not to take out of context the statements questioned, which are in boldface. "There is a reason for this. Of six million Freemasons dispersed all over the world, four million are Americans. Freemasonry gained a foothold in the Philippines since 1898 when the Americans came here. With their help and inspiration, men in the Philippines have sought membership in the fraternity until, by latest report, there are now 129 lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines with a membership of well over 10,000." The writer did not intend his editorial to imply that the Americans in troduced Freemasonry into the Philippines. Freemasonry entered the Philip pines many years before the Americans came. Their coming merely brought Freemasonry out into the opeti, transforming the disorganized Freemasonry into the strong foothold upon which has been built the Freemasonry of our present day. The idea that he wanted to bring out was this. A group of Masons in the U.S. Volunteer Regiment from North Dakota was granted a dispensation to form a field Lodge by the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in North Dakota. This Lodge commenced its Masonic labors on No. 69 Calle Nueva, Malate. The Lodge was holding a meeting at the Church in CuliCuli when this was fired upon by Filipino soldiers fighting the Regiment. (Noble, Why I Am a Scottish Rite Mason, pp. 41-42; also Kalaw, La Masoneria Filipina, p. 131, We are adding a few more facts which we are sure will be of interest to the readers of The Cabletow. The first permanent Lodge composed entirely of Filipinos was Nilad Lodge No. 144 (now No. 12) under the Grande Oriente Espanol. It was organized on January 6, 1891 and received its charter on March 10, 1892. It served as the mother Lodge for many of the Lodges subsequently organized. (Kalaw, La Masoneria Filipina, Chapter III.) (Continued on page 121) 112 The Cabletow Freemasonry is engaged in a continuous quest lor truth and truths. In a Freemason’s firm involvement in this concern, he continuously travels. “Yet we are not to relax,” wrote Albert Pike, "in the pursuit of truth, nor contentedly acquiesce in error. It is our duty always to press forward in the search; for though absolute truth is unattainable, yet the amount of error in our views, is capable of progressive and perpetual diminution; and thus Masonry is a continual struggle toward the light.” A Freemason, in this incessant pursuit of truth and light, will untavel success as he evokes into a complete man, most capable as the bearer of (Jod s splendid image. It is along these principles that I should like io end my presentation. In ending, I wish, moreover, to state what the great Masonic writer Albert Pike, left us to know, that "The hope of success, and not the hope of re ward, should be our stimulating and sustaining power. Our object, and not ourselves, should be our inspiring thought.’’ BY WAY OF EXPLANATION (Continued from page 112) At the height of the persecutions to which the Masons in the Philippines were subjected by the Spanish authorities all Lodges had ceased working by 1897. (La Masoneria Filipina, Chapter V) After the occupation of the Philippines by the Americans the Lodges one by one resumed Masonic labor. (Kalaw, La Masoneria Filipina, Chapter VI) On December 19, 1912 the Grand Lodge of the Philippines was formed by the three American Lodges holding charters from the Grand Lodge of California. (Leynes Corcuera, The First Grand Lodge Communication, The Cabletow, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 5 for November 1962, pp. 132-138; Leynes Corcuera, The Founding of the Grand Lodge, mimeographed copies distributed at the Special Communication of the Grand Lodge in Celebration of the Golden Jubilee, December 19-20, at the Fil-American Auditorium.) The Spanish-speaking Lodges joined the Grand Lodge of the Philippines by "affiliation" on February 14, 1917. (Leynes Corcuera, Bagumbayan Lodge No. 4 and the Unification of Masonry in the Philippines, to be published in a forthcoming issue of The Cabletow). -AURELIO LEYNES CORCUERA October 1963 121

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