“LETTER OF AMBROSIO FLORES, ELECTED GRAND MASTER, TO MARCELO H. DEL PILAR, FOR THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GRAND REGIONAL COUNCIL OF THE PHILIPPINES, 18 SEPTEMBER 1893”
Excerpt from a letter written on occasion of the constitution of a Grand Regional Council under the Grande Oriente Espanol
“…You know as I advised you in my first letter that our whole interest was fixed on establishing a Regional Council. This alone could lift us from the state of confusion in which we found ourselves; free us from the asphyxiating atmosphere of autocracy in which we could no longer breathe. The question of personalities was of least importance. Neither I nor the others with me would have any objection at all to accepting those persons over-ambitious for power and giving them free rein. They have already landed us in this morass. With all the lodges participating in the Council, it will be possible to keep these gentlemen in their proper place and insure that all things are done in accordance with principle, rule and law. But to be without a Council until
God knows when… with all that is going on now and may still be coming after this, you may take my word for it that everybody… is completely irritated…
Poor Filipinos! Hardly had they found a crack in the walls of their dungeon and ran towards it, yearning to breathe fresh outside air which they believed would save their lives, when they found that air as dense and lacking in oxygen as the air now stifling them. They expected to find in Masonry a remedy for all their ills, against all evil, and instead they only found in it the whip of Panday, the tyranny of Ramos, and the contempt of Ruiz; precisely the three from whose hands they thought the manna would be dropped.
It may perhaps seem to you that we put blame on an entire organization for the mistakes of a few. Please do not think for a moment that we are opposing in advance whatever suggestions you make; it is only that we cannot help doubting both the efficacy and integral soundness of an organization where a purely personal criterion and personal will almost invariably is permitted to prevail. This is what we have found in searching past records for data and evidence to guide us in our disheartening situation.
God knows when… with all that is going on now and may still be coming after this, you may take my word for it that everybody… is completely irritated…
Poor Filipinos! Hardly had they found a crack in the walls of their dungeon and ran towards it, yearning to breathe fresh outside air which they believed would save their lives, when they found that air as dense and lacking in oxygen as the air now stifling them. They expected to find in Masonry a remedy for all their ills, against all evil, and instead they only found in it the whip of Panday, the tyranny of Ramos, and the contempt of Ruiz; precisely the three from whose hands they thought the manna would be dropped.
It may perhaps seem to you that we put blame on an entire organization for the mistakes of a few. Please do not think for a moment that we are opposing in advance whatever suggestions you make; it is only that we cannot help doubting both the efficacy and integral soundness of an organization where a purely personal criterion and personal will almost invariably is permitted to prevail. This is what we have found in searching past records for data and evidence to guide us in our disheartening situation.
Finally, we trust that you will understand perfectly our despair and anxiety. Your interest in our welfare has never flagged, and we hope you will be kind enough to continue giving us your efforts and your advice on all matters we have written you.
Source:
Source:
Kalaw, Teodoro M. Philippine Masonry: Its Origin, Development and Vicissitudes up to Present time (1920). Translated by Frederic Stevens. Manila: McCullough Printing, Co, 1956, 87-89;
Gealogo, Francis Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of History, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
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