LUNCH AND A CONVERSATION WITH A DISTINGUISHED BROTHER

Model Lodge recently paid a visit to Bro. Segfredo R. Serrano, the Department of Agriculture's Undersecretary for Policy Planning and a Past Master of Makiling Lodge No. 72, to personally invite him to be the Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker during its 7th Public Installation of Officers for 2014.

Outgoing Master Bro. Aquilino M. Valino, Jr. led the Lodge's delegation which included incoming Master Bro. Shubert L. Ciencia, incoming Junior Warden Bro. Jojit DL Floro, and incoming Secretary Bro. Virgilio G. Santos. 

111th DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF BRO. JOSE P. RIZAL COMMEMORATED

111 years ago today on the 30th of December 1896, Filipino national hero Bro. Jose P. Rizal was executed at what is now the Luneta by a firing squad of native Filipino colonial troops after being tried by a Spanish military court for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy.

Masonic District RIII-D led by Bro. District Deputy Grandmaster Emmanuel Antonio Umali who is a Model Lodge charter member commemorated this watershed event in simple rites at the grounds of the Cabanatuan City Hall. Bro. District Grand Lecturer Froilan Valino, another Model Lodge charter member, delivered the valedictory address in behalf of Bro. Vice-Mayor Jolly Garcia of Cabanatuan City.

The event was attended by representatives all Masonic lodges under the jurisdiction of Masonic District RIII-D with Model Lodge having the biggest delegation. Representatives from the Order of the Amaranth, Job’s Daughters International, and the Knights of Columbus also attended the commemoration rites.

Milestones in Bro. Jose Rizal’s Masonic Life
1861 (June 19): Bro. Jose was born in Calamba, Laguna.

1872-1882: Bro. Jose’s student days at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila (1872-1877) and the University of Sto. Tomas (1878-1882) where at some time he stayed in the house of his uncle Jose Alberto Alonzo who is a Freemason and who perhaps introduced Bro. Jose to the ideals of Freemasonry.

1882-1884: Bro. Jose visited Naples in Italy while studying medicine at Spain’s Universidad Central de Madrid and was impressed by the public adoration shown at the death of Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi who is a Freemason. It was probably at this period when Bro. Jose encountered the ideals of Bros. Miguel Morayta and Francisco Pi y Margal which led him to petition for membership at their Masonic lodge, the Acacia Lodge No. 9 of the Gran Oriente de Espana in 1884, and adopted Dimasalang as his Masonic name.

1885-1887: Bro. Jose left for France and Germany to pursue further studies at the University of Paris and later at the University of Heidelberg where he became a member of the Berlin Ethnological and Anthropological Societies through the intercessions of Bros. Dr. Rudolf Virchow and Dr. Feodor Jagor. It was also while in Germany that Bro. Jose acquired additional degrees in Freemasonry which might have included The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. It was during this period when Bro. Jose wrote his first novel, the “Noli Me Tangere”.

1887 (August 6): Bro. Jose came home to the Philippines and immediately faced charges from the Spanish friars on the alleged subversion of his novel, the “Noli Me Tangere”. Bro. Governor-General Emilio Terrero y Perinat found nothing wrong in the novel and shielded Bro. Jose as far as he can do so, even assigning him a personal bodyguard. But when he thought he can no longer protect Bro. Jose, he advised him to leave the Philippines once again.

1888-1889: Bro. Jose arrived in Paris after travelling via Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, and England. He then moved in Belgium where he started writing his second novel “El Filibusterismo”.

1890 (November 15): During a visit to Spain, Bro. Jose affiliated with the Solidaridad Lodge No. 53 of the Grand Orient of France, an all Filipino Masonic Lodge, where he was elected as Supervising Architect. It was probably in the same year that Bro. Jose was also designated by the Gran Oriente Espanol as its Grand Representative in France and Germany.

1891-1892: Bro. Jose left Europe for Hong Kong where he stayed for 7 months. While in Hong Kong, Bro. Jose was elected in absentia as the Honorable Venerable Master of what was then the Nilad Lodge No. 144 in Manila. The formation of Nilad Lodge inspired the growth of Freemasonry in the Philippines.

1892-1896: Bro. Jose finally returned to the Philippines in 1892 and was soon exiled in Dapitan until July 31, 1896. As soon as Bro. Jose was sent to Dapitan, the Spanish colonial government also closed Masonic lodges and deported active Masons.

1896: Bro. Jose left for Spain to serve in Cuba as a military doctor in the Spanish Colonial army during the Cuban Revolution. He was however arrested upon reaching Spain and sent back to the Philippines to stand trial for treason. On December 30, Bro. Jose was executed by firing squad at what was then Bagumbayan and ignited the Philippine War for Independence under the leadership of two Freemasons --- Bros. Andres Bonifacio and Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo.

FOOTNOTES: Top photo shows Bro. District Grand Lecturer Froilan Valino delivering the valedictory address while the bottom photo shows the Model Lodge delegation to the 111th commemoration of Bro. Jose Rizal's death that was held at the grounds of the Cabanatuan City Hall. An article attributed to Bro. Fred Lamar Pearson, Jrs. for the book "Dimasalang: The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal" is the primary source of this article. This article was also published in the February-March 2010 issue of "The Craftsman".

MY BROTHER THE PRESIDENT

My brother, Manuel Luis Quezon, was born on August 19, 1878 in the sleepy coastal town of Baler in what is now the province of Aurora. As a child, Kuya Manuel was called “Ang Kastila” because of his mestizo lineage. It is not clear if Kuya Manuel fought in the Philippine War for Independence but his father, a sergeant in the Spanish colonial government’s army, remained loyal to the Spanish flag which led to his and another son’s death in an ambush by Filipino Katipuneros while travelling to Baler from Nueva Ecija.

During the Filipino-American War however, Kuya Manuel served as an aide-de-camp of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and rose through the ranks from private to major until he surrendered in 1901 after which he was imprisoned for 6 months by the Americans. During that war, he was promoted to the rank of captain after rescuing the wounded Novo Ecijano and would-be general Col. Benito Natividad from the frontlines.

Kuya Manuel was made a master mason on 17 March 1908 in Manila’s Sinukuan Lodge No. 16 when already an elected member of the Philippine National Assembly. He went on to become a senator and the country’s first Senate President in 1916.

Most Worshipful Manuel L. Quezon is acknowledged as the First Filipino Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines which he helped establish in 1917 after spearheading the unification of American and Filipino Masonic Lodges in the country. He, however, resigned from Freemasonry in 17 September 1930 apparently due to the request of her wife, Dona Ma. Aurora Aragon-Quezon.

In 1935, Kuya Manuel won the Philippines’ first national presidential election which he contested with two other equally worthy brother Masons: Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Bishop Gregorio Aglipay.

Seven years after leaving Freemasonry, Kuya Manuel clarified his resignation with the following statement: “I didn't and never will renounce Masonry. There is a form which those returning to the Church are supposed to sign but I refused to sign it. Instead, I wrote the Archbishop a personal note saying that I understand that I could not be readmitted to the Roman Catholic Church so long as I remained a Mason, and, for that reason I was resigning from Masonry but I never renounced Masonry”.

Kuya Manuel died of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New York while in exile in the United States during World War II. His remains were later interred at the Quezon Memorial in the city named after him.

Today, Kuya Manuel is honored in the town where he was born by the constitution of the Manuel L. Quezon Memorial Lodge No. 262 that was presided by now Supreme Court Chief Justice and Past Grand Master Reynato Puno.

It should be noted that aside from Kuya Manuel, 3 more brother Masons served as president of the Philippines. They are Kuya Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo (Philippine Revolutionary Government, 1899-1901) of Pilar Lodge No. 203 and now Pilar Lodge No. 15, and founder of Magdalo Lodge No. 31 that was later renamed Emilio Aguinaldo Lodge No. 31 in his honor; Kuya Jose P. Laurel (Japanese-sponsored Republic, 1943-1945) , past Junior Warden of Batangas Lodge No. 383 and now Batangas Lodge No. 35; and (3) Kuya Manuel Roxas (First Philippine Republic, 1946-1948), Past Master of Acacia Lodge No. 13 and Makawiwili Lodge No. 55.

FOOTNOTES: The information used for this article was gleaned from the following sources: Quezon City Lodge No. 122, Our Famous Brother Masons, Wikipedia, RP Stamps and Postal History, An Online Guide About Philippine History, WikiFilipino, and the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines. This article was written by Bro. Shubert L. Ciencia and first appeared in his blog at "Shooting Churches, Eating Noodles” on August 19, 2009 and published in the November 2009 issue of "The Craftsman".

NUEVA ECIJA'S BOY GENERAL

No, Gregorio del Pilar is not the Philippines’ youngest general ever. He was 22 years old when he got his commission in June (or July) of 1898. In fact, he was still a lieutenant-colonel when the 20 year old Manuel Tinio of Nueva Ecija was promoted to the rank of a General de Brigida in 20 November 1897 by Mi Presidente Emilio Aguinaldo.

Gen. Manuel Tinio after which the town of Papaya was renamed was born on 17 June 1877 in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija to one of the province’s landed and richest families. But unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not have higher education because when the revolt against colonial Spain broke out in 1896, he dropped out of segunda ensenanza at the San Juan de Letran to join the Kaitpunan at the tender age of 18. His first battles were in his province and nearby Bulacan where he distinguished himself and was commissioned a captain by Gen. Mariano Llanera --- Gapan’s capitan-municipal and the Katipunan’s recognized supremo in Central Luzon. That was how he earned his feathers and got noticed by Mi Presidente who soon promoted him to colonel in June 1897, then to brigadier general 5 months later in Biyak-na-Bato.

The general was a protégé of Mi Presidente whom he joined in exile in Hongkong at the conclusion of the Pact of Biyak-na-Bato. He followed Mi Presidente back to the Philippines on May 1898 during the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, was immediately tasked with liberating the Ilocos region from Spanish colonial rule and was placed in command of the ragtag Ilocos Expeditionary Forces. As his Brigada Tinio marched through Ilocos, he linked with pockets of Ilocano revolutionaries and encountered stiff Spanish resistance until the town of Tagudin. From then on, it was a walk in the park as the “natives” in the Spanish colonial army deserted en masse to the side of the Katipunan. By September 1898, Apo Heneral Tinio has accomplished his mission.

However, his next battles during the Filipino-American War were not as glamorous and victorious. His Brigada Tinio was called to the frontline on September 1899 seven months after the war started in Sta. Mesa, Manila. They plunged to action 2 months later in San Jacinto, Pangasinan as the rearguard of Mi Presidente where they fiercely engaged the Americans troops that landed in San Fabian. From then on, it was guerilla warfare for the Brigada Tinio after the regular revolutionary army was disbanded by Mi Presidente before continuing his retreat to the Cordilleras. But aside from waging war, Apo Heneral Tinio also has to contend with the resentful Ilocanos and a deadly rivalry with Batac’s Padre Gregorio Aglipay as an offshoot of the Ilocano Gen. Antonio Luna’s treacherous assassination in Cabanatuan.

Despite the odds, it took the Americans 7,000 troops, 1 and a ½ years, and 2 generals to subdue the Brigada Tinio which has been said as the last remaining army of the Malolos Republic. On March 1901, Mi Presidente was treacherously captured in Palanan, Isabela and a month later issued a general proclamation of surrender. On 01 May 1901, the Brigada Tinio formally surrendered to the Americans. Thus ended what according to Gen. Arthur McArthur is the “most troublesome and perplexing military problem in all Luzon”.

After his military stint, Apo Heneral Tinio returned to Nueva Ecija and became a rich hacendero. He was rivaled in terms of landholdings by his brother Col. Casimiro “Kapitan Berong” Tinio who served under him in the Brigada Tinio and who owned “the largest singularly-titled hacienda estate any Filipino has ever owned”. Apo Heneral Tino was Nueva Ecija governor from 1907 until his resignation in 1909. He died at the age of 47 in 1924 of cirrhosis of the liver. His grandson said he is fond of Tres Cepas brandy of which he consumed a bottle after every meal.

It is interesting to note that almost throughout his Ilocos campaign during the Filipino-American War, Apo Heneral Tinio was with another boy general from Nueva Ecija --- Benito Natividad, twice wounded in action and erstwhile aide to General Luna, who was promoted to General de Brigada at the age of 24. Nueva Ecija should be proud to having contributed the youngest and the third youngest generals in the modern history of the Philippine armed forces.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) Unless cited, all the information and the Tinio photo in this article is from Orlino Ochosa’s celebrated “The Tinio Brigade” book which the author recommend for reading to every Filipino, especially Novo Ecijanos. The author also have the chance of a short conversation with Martin Tinio Jr. --- a grandson of the Apo Heneral --- who confirmed the “youngest general” tag and shared surprising anecdotes that are not yet published. Any errors are mine alone.

(2) Like most leaders of the Kaitipunan, GEN. MANUEL TINIO is a member of the craft. The online Wikipedia encyclopedia cited him as the spearhead in “the establishment of the first Masonic Lodge in Nueva Ecija at Cabantuan City” which, however, is erroneously reported to have been named after him. That distinction belongs to the Gen. Manuel Tinio Memorial Lodge No. 167 in Guimba, Nueva Ecija. Wikipedia might be referring to the Cabanatuan Lodge No. 53.

(3) Almost all the other famous personalities mentioned in this article are members of the craft: GEN. EMILIO AGUINALDO who was made a master mason on 01 January 1895 in what is now Pilar Lodge No. 15, and founded the Magdalo Lodge No. 31 that was later renamed as the Emilio Aguinaldo Lodge No. 31 in his honor; Cabiao’s GEN. MARIANO LLANERA whose black with skulls-and-bones Katipunan flag has been inspired by symbols of Freemasonry; FR. GREGORIO AGLIPAY, General Aguinaldo’s Vicar General and the first Supreme Bishop of the Iglesia Filipiniana Independiente, who is also a member of the 32º Philippine Bodies, A. & A.S.R.; GEN. ANTONIO LUNA who was made a master mason in Madrid; and GEN. ARTHUR MCARTHUR, Gen. Douglas McArthur’s father and a former US Military Governor General in the Philippines , who in 1879 was made a master mason in Arkansas’ Magnolia Lodge No. 60 and was a recipient of the US Congressional Medal of Honor. It is not known to the author if Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar and Gen. Benito Natividad are also Freemasons.

(4) This article was written by Bro. Shubert L. Ciencia and first appeared in his blog at “Shooting Churches, Eating Noodles” on September 7, 2007 and was also published in the September-October 2009 issue of "The Craftsman".