I learned about Freemasonry and Knights Templar from reading Dan Brown’s books. So, when I saw a show running in the History Channel about the Holy Grail, I sat and watched it. The show’s conclusion led me to re-dig more information about the Freemasons and find out who were the famous people known to be Freemasons.
The Wikipedia’s list of Freemasons surprised me as I recognize the Filipino names listed there. It amazed me how these Filipinos shaped the Philippines history. I might had overlooked the fact of their membership of this mysterious organization before but it’s harder for me to ignore the fact this time.
So, let’s take a look at those notable Filipinos who were members of Freemasonry, a fraternal organization and let’s wonder what had they taken from their membership and brought to the Filipinos.
- José Abad Santos, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
- Gregorio Aglipay, Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church.
- José P. Laurel, President of the Japanese-Sponsored Republic of the Philippines during World War II, from 1943 to 1945.
- Camilo Osías, President of the Senate of the Philippines.
- Rafael Palma, Filipino politician, writer, and educator. Fourth President of the University of the Philippines.
- Reynato Puno, Chief Justice of the Philippines.
- Manuel L. Quezon, First president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under U.S. occupation rule in the early period of the 20th century.
- Jose Rizal, Polymath and National Hero of the Philippines.
- Manuel Roxas, was the first president of the independent Republic of the Philippines.
- Lope K. Santos, Tagalog language writer from the Philippines.
