The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-19
MASONRY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Native Lodges at the Bottom OF the
InsurrectfOn There.
New York Times.

New York Times.
The organization of the Philippine insur-
rection is a very curious study. 1t began
with the Masonic lodges which were intro
duced into the islands by the Socialists
who were banished to Manila after the out
break at Carthagena: These exiles at first
selves, but the creoles and the half-breeds
of the archipelago having manifested "a de-
sire TO be affiliated with them, were finally
initiated: The latter quickly organized
lodges of their own, and in a few years the
roll OF FreemaSonS was SWeiled to from
25,0O TO 30. 900 members. Thus 1t came about
finally that men of pure Malay blood had
their secret assemblies as well the Span
ish and Chinese half-breeds. All over the
islands there were formed lodges known in
the native tongue as Karipunan. Consider
ing the influence exercised on the simple
minds of the islanders of Oceanica by all
that appears to them mysterious, symbolic
or enveloped in a highly imaginative ritual
the extra ordinary development of these
secret societies cannot be called surprising.
The philosophic or socialistic ideas that may
have found root in the parent lodges of
Europe found no place in the Philippines.
The native became a Freemason simply
that he might pass through an ordeal which
he regarded as out of the common Every
adept was required to make an incision on
his arm, and with the blood which pro-
ceeded from 1T to mix the blood of the men,
Der who initia ted him, thus taking oath to
devote himself till death to the secret So
had some terrible consequences. Every
man having scar on his arm became,
from that very fact suspected by the Span
1sh authorities. Sometimes the cut on the
arm was all the evidence needed to send a
man to prison.
What may be called, however, the deter
mining cause of the multiplication of Ma
sonic lodges in the Philippine archipelago
was that the natives Were able by this
means to express behind closed doors their
| grievances, their hatreds and their aspira
| tions for liberty. In a country where the
Inquisition of Philip II has still it's nominal
representative, where the civil censorship is
q unScruDuIOuS-
ness without equal elsewhere, one may i'm
agine with what joy entire populations
sought entrance to the ranks of Freema-
sonry. The native lodges of Manila and it's
suburbs, in fellowship with the Great East
when the insurrection broke out in July,
1896 In each of the provinces of Cavte,
Batangas. Bulacan and Pampanga there
were from ten to twenty lodges. There
was at least one in each of the other prov
inces. The clerical authorities, with an in
Stince OF ser eelt-preservation; perceived the
plored General Blanco, who was then gov
ernor, to arrest the rising food of the secret
about Freemasonry till a dispatch from
Spain conveyed to him the order to act with
prompitude. AS a result of this, 400 native
and half breed Freemasons were sent to
prison. Blanco was nevertheless accused
by the clergy Of being incapable. and of
treating the insurgents with too much in
diligence. A merciless regime of Danish
ment and capital punishment seemed to be
the favorite clerical remedy for the rebel
lion.
Blanco was succeeded as commandment in
the Philippines by Polaviea. and he in
turn, by Primo de Rivera The first was
relieved of his duties because he was de-
tested by the monks, the second was strck-
en- by fever and a liver complaint contract
ed in Cuba, the third who had before been
governor of the Philppir es and who is be-
lieved to have made a fortune out of gam
bling licenses, adopted the policy of restor-
ing the population to the influence of the
monastic orders Against the success of this
there was ranged the, bitter ,enmity of the
Masonic lodges toward the island clergy, as
Well as the influence. of young men born
in the Philippines who are sent to Madrid
to receive a liberal education. These Gre
oles with their quick intelligence and open
ness of mind, bring back to the islands a
much more revolutionary temper than that
which they took with them. Not only has
the mother country no employment to spare
for them in their, native land but the free
dom of speech which they enjoyed in Mad
rid is absolutely forbidden in Manila. 1t is
this element of discomfort which has formed
the brains of the separatist movement in the
Philippines, and which will probably be
found ready to cooperate with the repre-
sentatiVeS of our government in recasting
the civil organization of the islands.