The Philippines

To the south of the Chinese mainland, strung out like pearls over 1,854 kilometers (1,152 miles) of the Pacific Ocean, lie the 7,083 islands that comprise the Republic of the Philippines. Smaller than Japan yet larger than Great Britain, the numerous islands of the Philippines have a coastline more than double that of the United States. Of over thirty good harbors, by far the most prominent is Manila Bay, which has 160 kilometers (100 miles) of coastline and is considered by many to be one of the finest natural harbors in Asia.

Due to its location just north of the equator, the Philippines has a tropical climate, but pleasant sea breezes keep the temperature at an average of from 26 to 29 degrees Celsius (78 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit) throughout the year. The warm, humid climate, combined with plentiful rainfall, makes for rich, tropical greenery, and there are no wholly arid sections in the country. The entire archipelago is ruggedly mountainous, the islands in reality being an upper portion of a partly submerged mountain chain. The majority of the people live either on the coastal plains or in the rich valleys that cut through the mountains. Being located in the volcanic belt surrounding the Pacific Ocean, the Philippines has several active volcanoes, the most awesome of which is Mount Mayon, considered by some to have the most beautifully formed cone in the world.

The country is divided into three main geographical sections: Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Luzon is the largest island, located to the north and having a “tail” of land that extends southeastward. Mindanao, in the southern part of the Philippines, is the second-largest island. Sandwiched in between is the group of islands known as the Visayas.

The beautiful islands that make up the Philippines are home for 42 million Filipinos, a friendly, outgoing people, principally of Malay descent. They are a gregarious people with a sense of humor. They love to talk and exchange ideas on almost any subject imaginable. Their zest for life is expressed in their love of music and dancing. Family ties are very close, but the Filipino is hospitable to strangers and his door is always open to neighbors and visitors. Outside the cities, life in the agricultural Philippines remains leisurely. All these characteristics of the Filipino have in some way contributed to the rapid spread of the message of God’s truth in the islands.

By the sixteenth century of the Common Era, due  to the migration of Mohammedan Malays to the Philippines, the religion of Islam was dominant in many parts of the country. However, when Spain claimed the country, Catholicism was introduced and spread widely, so that today 83 percent of the population claim to be of the Roman Catholic religion. Spain controlled the islands for over 300 years until she was removed by a Philippine revolution in 1898 with the aid of the United States of America. The Filipinos subsequently established a government, but this was not recognized by America and in a peace treaty signed with Spain in Paris on December 10, 1898, the Philippines was ceded to the United States. Thus the country changed hands from one colonial master to another.

America brought with her the English language and a more liberal climate in regard to religion, factors that were to have a profound effect on the planting and developing of the seeds of Bible truth during the dawning twentieth century. English became the medium of education and business, and remains such to this day, having been superimposed upon the already-existing 87 local languages and dialects of the country. Hence, it is common for a modern-day Filipino to speak English and one or more other languages, which facilitates communication among the diversified ethnic groups.

KINGDOM MESSAGE REACHES THE PHILIPPINES

So it was that in 1912, when a renowned American minister visited Manila, he was able to deliver a lecture in English to a largely Filipino audience. The speaker was Charles T. Russell, president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, who was then on a worldwide lecture tour. On Sunday, January 14, 1912, he gave the talk “Where Are the Dead?” at the Manila Grand Opera House. With this event, the Kingdom message reached the Philippines for the first time, and the modern history of Jehovah’s people in this country began.

Even before Brother Russell and his party arrived, there had been much publicity. Paid advertisements appearing in the Manila Times on January 8, 11 and 13 created much interest in the lecture. However, some newspapers published derogatory statements about Brother Russell, no doubt basing their reports on false charges that had been made by the Brooklyn Eagle and other American newspapers. Some claimed that he was making money, that he was a “grafter,” an  itinerant preacher who was making capital of the religious enthusiasm of the ignorant. Others even falsely reported that the group had failed to arrive as scheduled.

All this adverse publicity did not dampen interest in the lecture. Rather, this seemed to kindle interest, and about 1,000 persons were present. Announcement was made at the meeting that free literature would be sent to any who would write their name and address on slips of paper.

Since Brother Russell had been introduced at the Opera House by none other than General J. Franklin Bell, the commander in chief of the 20,000 American troops stationed in the Philippines at that time, a subsequent issue of the Philippines Free Press commented: “When such men as Major-General Bell and General Hall [a traveling companion of Russell who had lived in the Philippines ten years previous] identify themselves with Pastor Russell and his propaganda, there cannot be anything very seriously wrong with it.”

There is no doubt that this first preaching of the good news in the Philippines had a powerful impact on the people of Manila. The lecture became a topic of conversation among all kinds of people. Also, the literature distributed, and the talk itself, planted seeds of truth and gave a mighty witness, a fitting start to the history of Jehovah’s people in the Philippines.

ISOLATED CONTACTS IN THE 1920’S

Following Brother Russell’s visit, the next representative of the Society to come to the Philippines was Brother H. Tinney. In 1922 or 1923 he left Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to do missionary work in the Philippines. After serving here diligently for about a year, distributing much literature and organizing a Bible study class in Manila, he was forced to return to Canada due to ill health. The Bible study class was continued by Filipinos and the interest thereby generated evidently continued to grow. How do we know? Well, by the mid-1920’s a person named Petronilo Salazar was regularly receiving literature from the Society’s headquarters in New York and was distributing it. Weekly Bible classes were held at his home on San Marcelino Street, Manila, and an outdoor sign identified it as the meeting place of the International Bible Students Association. Around ten persons attended the weekly studies during this time and down to the early 1930’s, and the Memorial of Jesus Christ’s death was celebrated annually.

 Contact with Jehovah’s people and their message was also made through American servicemen (or their relatives) assigned to the Philippines for a while. One elderly sister of around eighty whose son was an army officer got sick while in the Philippines and was treated in the Post Military Hospital at Fort Mills on Corregidor Island. A Filipino nurse became interested in what this elderly woman told her from the Bible. So, after being released from the hospital, the old sister conducted a Bible study with the nurse and about five others twice a week, calling it an “Inner Circle.”

When the old sister, Annie D. Barrett, left for the United States, the nurse heard no more about the Bible Students (as Jehovah’s Witnesses had been called) until 1932, when another American patient by the name of Mrs. Lampert gave her the booklet Liberty and the book The Harp of God. Before completing the literature, she was shocked by comments that false religion is a means used by Satan to blind the minds of men. So she took the matter up with the army chaplain, who was acquainted with the Bible Students in the United States and who told her of their growth there in spite of the fact that they were severely persecuted. He told her, ‘You will not find any real Christians but these people in the whole United States’ Encouraged again by this, the nurse ordered three sets of our books through Sister Lampert’s husband who was a sergeant in the United States armed forces. When these were received, the nurse distributed them to her friends.

That nurse, Purificacion Bennett, later left the military hospital on Corregidor and eventually contacted the Society’s office in Manila. She became a pioneer in 1935, played an active part in spreading the truth in Luzon and Davao City during the next ten years and continued serving as a faithful pioneer until her death in May of 1977.

ORGANIZED WORK BEGINS

Another early contact was Van Bolin, an American serviceman who found the Watch Tower Society’s booklet Where Are the Dead? in a trash can while on a tour of duty in Shanghai, China, in 1932. The booklet had been thrown there by his lieutenant, who had received it from a relative in the United States but was not interested in it. Later, the same lieutenant received the book Government and the booklet The Kingdom, the Hope of the World and gladly gave them to Van Bolin. Still later that year, Van Bolin’s regiment returned to home base in Manila and he immediately  wrote the Watch Tower Society in Brooklyn, New York, requesting more literature and asking if the Society could provide some contact in the Philippines. He was sent the address of Sergeant Lampert on Corregidor, but the Lamperts already had left the Philippines by the time he tried to get in touch with them.

Van Bolin continued reading the books he had received until one day, when listening to radio station KZRM in Manila, he heard a brief announcement regarding the work of the Watch Tower Society, inviting people to read its literature. An address on Lealtad Street was given. Upon going there, he met a Watch Tower representative and began associating with Jehovah’s people. Apart from the meetings held on Lealtad Street, during this time public Bible lectures were arranged in a number of locations throughout the Manila area.

Around this time, another Watch Tower representative was on his way to the Philippines. This was Joseph Dos Santos, an American of Portuguese descent, who had been a pioneer in Hawaii since 1929. He left Hawaii in 1933 aboard the steamship “Great Northern,” with the intention of circling the globe and stopping at major cities en route to proclaim the Kingdom message and place literature. He carried some publications with him and requested that more literature be shipped to Manila for use there. When the boat docked at Yokohama, however, his entire stock of literature was confiscated by Japanese authorities. Evidently some clergymen traveling with Brother Dos Santos had falsely accused him of being a Communist, notifying the Japanese authorities by telegram before the boat arrived.

This false charge of being a Communist followed Brother Dos Santos to Manila. On arrival, he was immediately summoned to see the Director of Customs, who wished to see one of the Society’s books. The Communist party had been officially organized in the Philippines in November 1930, and so the government was watching all those suspected of being Communists. After reading one of the books in the space of a week, the customs director apparently was satisfied that it was religious, not communistic. However, for several months afterward the Intelligence Bureau had a secret policeman follow Brother Dos Santos in his witnessing activity, while a lawyer in the Customs House went so far as to request a Bible study in his home just to find out if this work was communistic or not. Finally they were satisfied that the work was  purely Christian, and so Brother Dos Santos was able freely to join the already-existing group of around ten brothers in their meetings and witnessing activity in and around Manila.

BRANCH OFFICE ESTABLISHED

Brother Dos Santos’ plan to travel on to Brazil and around the world was abruptly altered by a letter from Joseph F. Rutherford, the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The letter asked Brother Dos Santos to take charge of the Kingdom-preaching work in the Philippines and to establish a branch office of the Society there. He gladly did this, renting a place at 1132 Rizal Avenue, Santa Cruz, Manila, to serve as the first branch office. Thus it was that the Philippine branch began to operate on June 1, 1934.

With the establishment of the branch office, meetings and field service became better organized. An English Watchtower study was conducted every Sunday evening by Brother Dos Santos. Later, a Tagalog study was added on Friday evenings, using the booklets that had been translated into that language, such as The Kingdom, the Hope of the World; Escape to the Kingdom; The Crisis and Beyond the Grave. The brothers in the entire Manila area attended this one meeting place. Travel in Manila then was not difficult, since the city was not as crowded as it is today and there was much transportation available. The trambia, or streetcar, ran right past the branch office and a ride cost only six centavos (3c U.S. at that time). For only 10 centavos, a horse-drawn rig (calesa) could be hired for a short trip. But, if the brothers wished to economize, they could ride on a horse-drawn caretela for just two centavos (1c U.S.). Or they could simply walk, which they often did.

The small group by no means limited themselves to meeting together for Bible study, however. Brother Dos Santos spent a half day in the house-to-house witnessing work daily, besides taking care of the branch office. He thus set a good example for the others. Among those who first heard the truth through his witnessing were Agustin Dagdag and Narciso Samson, both of whom are still faithfully serving Jehovah.

At that time a testimony card was used in witnessing. After the householder read this, the literature was presented to him. As a result of their zeal, the small group of no more than twenty Kingdom proclaimers distributed a total of 23,405 books and booklets during 1934 alone.

 Additionally, when new publications were released, copies were distributed to government officials and public libraries. This also bore fruitage. In fact, two of those who served as “zone servants” during the second world war learned the truth from literature obtained in the libraries. Fulgencio de Jesus borrowed the booklet Dividing the People and the book Deliverance! from the National Library in Manila and contacted the branch from the address stamped inside the book. Salvador Liwag was a schoolteacher in Cabanatuan City, over 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Manila, when he saw the book Creation in the National Library’s branch there. He had previously obtained the booklet Where Are the Dead? and it had freed him from religious superstition and the influence of the demons. They had been troubling him every night, causing loss of sleep and impairment of his health. Hence, when he saw the Creation book and the address stamped inside the cover, he was very eager to learn more and immediately traveled to Manila, locating the branch office on Rizal Avenue. He acquired all the books available and subscribed for The Watchtower and The Golden Age (predecessor of Awake!). In October 1934 Brother Liwag gave up his teaching profession to become a full-time proclaimer of the good news. His full-time service continues to this day, and he now serves as a member of the Bethel family in Quezon City.

While the branch was still in its infancy, God’s servants were tested as to their loyalty to his organization. Some resented the appointment of Brother Dos Santos as the branch director and so they withdrew themselves from the other brothers and met separately. In the late 1930’s, at least two other groups apart from those at the branch called themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” and one of these was organized locally as the Watch Tower Bethel and Pulpit Society. While this caused confusion, God did not allow it to stumble those sincerely searching for the truth, and those loyal to Jehovah stayed with his organization, refusing to be drawn into personality conflicts. Interestingly, since the dissident groups basically used material from the Society’s literature in their lectures and debates, many who listened to them later came in contact with God’s true servants and are still loyally serving Jehovah today.

EXPANSION ON LUZON FROM 1935 TO 1939

Although, at first, the work was concentrated in and around Manila, the need to expand into the provincial  areas was soon seen. An early pioneer, Pablo Bautista, had done some work in the provinces of southern and central Luzon in 1933 and 1934, but it was primarily from 1935 onward that expansion took place outside Manila. The branch director encouraged all who could do so to enter the pioneer service so as to witness in the untouched areas of the Philippines.

Many who became pioneers in those days did so without having been baptized. Even the branch director, Brother Dos Santos, was not baptized until October of 1935. It was not until the book Riches appeared in 1936 that baptism began to be given the proper emphasis in the Philippines. On page 145 of that book it was made clear that “submitting to be immersed in water is an act of obedience illustrating how one has fully put himself in the hands of the Lord, and therefore baptism is necessary and proper to be performed by all who have agreed to do the will of God.”

Pioneer groups were organized and sent out first to various parts of Luzon Island. Among these were the Bautista and Lacson families, Brothers Salvador Liwag, Jose Medina, Virginio Cruz and Benjamin Sampana and Sisters Elvira Alinsod and Purificacion Bennett. They spread out from Manila, covering the territory speedily, since more emphasis then was given to distributing our literature from house to house than to developing the interest. Yet, if a person showed a sheeplike disposition, the brothers would stay in his home for several hours to teach him the truths from God’s Word.

Later in the 1930’s, the pioneer ranks were swelled by others who learned the truth and saw the urgent need to proclaim the good news. One of these individuals was Isabelo Taeza. He recalls that the pioneers in his group in northern Luzon spent from 250 to 280 hours each month in field service, far surpassing the required 150 hours. Showing the wholehearted devotion of these early pioneers, most of them new in the truth, Brother Taeza says: “We walked an average of 80 to 100 kilometers [50 to 60 miles] a week witnessing up and down the mountains of Bontoc and along the Abra River.” As far as the pioneers were concerned, some of the tribal mountain folk ate unfamiliar foods such as unskinned frogs. So, the full-time proclaimers of the Kingdom message often brought along molasses to sustain themselves. When funds ran low, Brother Taeza, a family man at the time, sold part of his farmland and personal property so as to be able to keep on pioneering.

Wherever the pioneers went, they found the same eagerness to learn about God’s Word that Brother  Russell and his companions had observed among the Filipinos in 1912. Although return visits were not often made in the 1930’s, the vast amounts of literature placed resulted in the planting of seeds of truth in all parts of Luzon, and, even without personal contact, many of these bore fruit in the hearts of those hungering spiritually.

One of these persons was a construction foreman in Baguio City. His wife obtained the book Riches and some booklets from one of the pioneers. Immediately, he began reading the book and, after discussing the matter heatedly with his wife the whole night through, both of them accepted the truth from what they had read. He began talking to his workers in the Dangwa Transportation Company, and some of them listened, eventually becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses. When the book Children was published this man was able to obtain a copy and used it to teach his children the Bible. He studied and discussed religion with others for four years, although he had not been in contact with the brothers and had not attended a single Christian meeting. This brother is Alfredo Estepa, who later associated with the brothers and entered the Bethel home in Quezon City in 1949, having lost his family during the war. He is still serving faithfully at Bethel.

After working for more than two years with the literature and testimony cards, the pioneers received an added provision in 1937 when Brother Rutherford’s recorded Bible talks began to be used. A portable phonograph was available at a cost of ₱20.00 ($10) and it could be paid for in weekly installments of ₱1.00, if desired. In addition to this, the branch office in Manila obtained a transcription machine in order to play the longer recorded lectures in public. Brother Dos Santos bought a panel truck to carry the transcription machine and serve as a sound car. By 1939 there were two sound machines and twenty-four phonographs in use throughout the Philippines.

REACHING THE VISAYAS AND MINDANAO

Once the opening up of our work in Luzon was under way, Brothers Salvador Liwag and Jose Medina were assigned to spread the Kingdom message for the first time in the Visayas and Mindanao. They started in Cebu City. While they were witnessing on the ground floor of the Student Center building there, a Presbyterian pastor, who had just finished religious services on an upper floor, engaged them in a heated discussion and finally threw their literature bags outside in anger. One of the pastor’s “flock,” a man by the name of  Florencio Udog, observed this and noticed the Scriptural arguments presented by the pioneers. So he approached them and obtained the booklet Who Shall Rule the World? Later, he took all the books they had. By June 1935 Florencio Udog was alone, the pioneers having moved on. Serving as an unbaptized publisher, he wrote the branch office for instructions and was sent a copy of the Bulletin (now Our Kingdom Service). Although there then were just the few interested ones he had contacted, Florencio was appointed as the service director of the small group.

After leaving Cebu City, the pioneers moved on to Bacolod City on Negros Island. There they met up with Brother Narciso Samson who had moved there from Manila to do secular work. While in Bacolod City the three brothers waited until the early morning hours of June 3, 1935 (June 2 in the United States), to hear the broadcast of Brother Rutherford’s lecture “Government” beamed directly from Washington, D.C., U.S.A. They were thrilled to hear the discourse clearly. Back in Manila the branch director and other brothers went to a radio studio to hear the same broadcast, but were unable to hear clearly due to static interference. In San Pablo City, on Luzon Island, another group of pioneers heard the broadcast that morning. This truly made the brothers in the Philippines feel more closely united with Jehovah’s people earth wide at that time when they were so few.

After working on Negros Island for several months, the pioneers moved southward to Mindanao, reaching Zamboanga City for the first time. There Conrado Daclan, a Philippine Constabulary trainee, took books from the pioneers, but lost touch and could not later locate the pioneers. He presumed that they would need to report to their Manila office by mail and so he stationed himself near the post office and waited for them. After several days of waiting, the pioneers finally came and he immediately asked for help in studying the Bible. After three months of study this man was baptized in the Zamboanga River. Not long after this, he joined the pioneer group in the Visayas and during World War II played an important part in spreading the truth as a “zone servant.”

AIDS IN EXPANDING THE WITNESS

Apart from witnessing from house to house with the literature or phonograph, during the 1930’s the brothers used another means of proclaiming the truth throughout the entire Philippines. This was by public debate. Filipinos of those years were very much interested  in public discussions and almost anyone could stand up in the public plaza to speak, especially about religion, and draw a sizable crowd of listeners. Thus the brothers would give a public lecture with an open question period being allowed afterward. At other times, debates were officially arranged with leaders of other religions, although this was discouraged by the branch office. The public forum style of discussing the Bible did much to attract people to the truth, and many of those now Witnesses first heard the Kingdom message during a public debate or discussion.

On one occasion in Zamboanga del Sur, for example, when Brother Liwag met a local pastor in a public discussion, the timekeeper of the debate became interested in the truth and is now a witness of Jehovah. Although the debating style disappeared in the 1940’s, the custom of holding talks in the public plazas and parks was still popular down to the 1950’s, and this method of advertising the Kingdom certainly was fully utilized by Jehovah’s people in this land. Another big help in reaching more people with the good news was the publishing of more literature in local languages.

It can be readily seen, therefore, that the period from 1935 to 1939 was one of vigorous activity for the small band of Kingdom proclaimers in the Philippines. During that five-year period, almost 500,000 books and booklets were distributed to the people in all parts of the islands. By 1939 fourteen congregations had been established and 159 publishers were reporting field service. With few exceptions, virtually every province in the country had received a Kingdom witness to some extent and the seeds had been planted for a rich harvest in later years.

WORK INTENSIFIED AS WAR CLOUDS GATHER

A joyful event in the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Philippines took place at the Manila Grand Opera House on March 21 and 22, 1940. There, in the same hall used by Brother Russell in 1912, the Society’s branch office arranged for the first convention of Jehovah’s people to be held in this land. Brothers from various parts of the country attended and participated in advertising the public talk “Government and Peace,” which was to be a recording of the talk delivered by Brother Rutherford at Madison Square Garden in New York city on June 25, 1939.

By information marching with placards an impressive witness was given to Manila residents. Walking six to nine meters (20 to 30 feet) apart, the brothers  wore placards that in front read, “Religion Is a Snare and a Racket” and at the back urged, “Serve God and Christ the King and Live.” Handbills also were used to advertise the public talk. When, on March 22, the talk “Government and Peace” was played on the transcription machine, an audience of over 300 listened attentively.

Following this first assembly, in order to carry on the work more efficiently, nine pioneers were appointed as “zone servants,” today called circuit overseers. In those days, however, they covered a wide area in their travels. The appointment of these zone servants was certainly timely, as they were to play a vital role during the next few critical years.

With the zone servants serving systematically in their respective “zones,” our activities moved ahead faster and more smoothly than ever before. Nine new congregations were established in 1940 and eight in 1941, bringing the total up to 31 congregations having 373 publishers in that year. Over 300,000 books and booklets were distributed in 1940 and 1941, and 108,548 persons heard the recorded talks of Brother Rutherford. The Memorial on April 11, 1941, was attended by 621 persons, 16 of whom partook of the emblems.

In January 1940 the cramped branch office on Rizal Avenue in Manila was expanded a little by the renting of additional space in the same apartment building. But even this did not suffice to keep pace with the growing needs. At that time Brother Dos Santos, his wife and their two children were the only persons permanently living in the Bethel home, although other brothers would come in and help occasionally. Toward the end of 1940, a larger, two-story house was purchased for ₱4,500.00 ($2,250), almost half the amount being paid by the branch overseer and the rest being loaned by an interested German man. The new property, located at 1736 M. Natividad Street, Santa Cruz, Manila, was spacious, well ventilated and away from the noise and dust of Rizal Avenue, which is a main thoroughfare. The basement floor served as a storeroom for the literature, and the office and living quarters were on the second floor. The sala or large reception area served as the meeting place for the Manila “Company.”​—Ps. 68:11, Authorized Version.

Soon after purchasing this property, a new Bethel member was added. He was Narciso Delavin, who had been serving as zone servant in the southern provinces. In 1941 two sisters were added to the branch office staff, thus making five Bethel workers in all, excluding the two children of Brother and Sister Dos Santos. None of these workers requested any allowance,  since they had sufficient for their needs from the contributions received for the literature they placed when participating in the field service. At that time living costs were very low in Manila. For instance, a breakfast consisting of a fried egg, rolls and coffee cost less than ten centavos (5c U.S.). So it was not until after World War II that Bethel workers in the Philippines began to receive a small allowance for their personal needs.

In the midst of such spiritual growth and prosperity, however, the threat of war began to make itself felt. The second world war was already raging in Europe, and by July 1941 the Japanese imperial armies had the Philippines virtually surrounded. The fear of the enemy within caused some to suspect that Jehovah’s people were spies or were Communists, and this brought some pressure on the small group of brothers in this land.

In Balaoan, La Union, a group of pioneers were arrested because they did not obtain a license to publish the good news in the town. When other pioneers protested this unjust action as being a curtailment of their freedom of speech and religion, they, too, were arrested and accused of being Communists. The brothers used the Society’s booklet Order of Trial in defending themselves and, after a week, they were transferred to the provincial jail in San Fernando, La Union. After spending a month in prison, through the aid of a liberty-loving American lawyer who offered his services free of charge, they were released and found not guilty of the charges.

In other provinces the brothers were accused of being “fifth columnists” or spies for the Axis Powers. Religious newspapers encouraged this by falsely stating that the Society’s purpose was to undermine and overthrow man’s governments. Such unjust accusations were not limited to the island of Luzon, but were reported in Mindanao and the Visayas as well. The accusations sometimes were accompanied by physical abuse of the brothers.

On two occasions the branch office was visited by Intelligence Bureau representatives who were checking on the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses. After reading some literature, they recognized that the work had no political connections whatsoever, but was purely Christian. One of the representatives advised the branch overseer that “in case of any misunderstanding from the Commonwealth officials regarding your work, you may just refer the matter to the bureau.”

The nearness of war also increased feelings of nationalism, and there was much discussion about  making the flag salute compulsory in public and private schools. As early as 1939 some children of Jehovah’s Witnesses had been expelled from school because of not saluting the flag and, in view of their religious objection to saluting any national emblem, they were often mentioned prominently in the newspapers when this matter came up. Finally, a circular was issued to all schools making flag saluting compulsory on the strength of an opinion rendered by the then Secretary of Justice, Jose Abad Santos. No doubt this was influenced somewhat by the outcome of the Gobitis case in June 1940, when the Supreme Court of the United States decided against Jehovah’s Witnesses.

WAR REACHES THE PHILIPPINES

All these events came to a head when the Japanese Air Force bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii at a little past 2 a.m. on the morning of December 8, 1941, Philippine time. A few hours later an air attack was made on Davao City in southern Mindanao, and at noon of the same day the United States bases in Clark and Iba on Luzon Island were bombed by Japanese aircraft operating out of Formosa. War had reached the Philippines.

A few days after the first bombing raid, the Society’s Philippine branch sent to the Brooklyn headquarters a telegram that read: “Greetings. Work paralyzed. Brethren determined to ‘comfort all that mourn’!” This was the last communication this branch had with the Society’s headquarters in New York until the war ended.

Four days after the Pearl Harbor bombing, at around 10 a.m., two Philippine Constabulary officers went to the branch office on M. Natividad Street and took the branch overseer in for questioning. Malicious religious elements had falsely reported to the authorities that the branch overseer was the No. 1 fifth columnist in the Philippines. A few hours later, three Filipino brothers who were at the branch office that day were also taken into custody by the same officers. Upon arrival at the headquarters, they were fingerprinted and photographed like common criminals, then interrogated on the following day. During the investigation, if they refused to answer particularly tricky questions directly, they were often beaten. Following this, the three brothers​—Narciso Delavin, Agustin Dagdag and Melchor Maninang—​were thrown into the Old Bilibid prison on Azcarraga Street (now C. M. Recto Avenue). Brother Dos Santos, the branch overseer, was already there by that time, although he was kept separate  from the Filipino brothers. No food was given them for two days, but Brother Engracio Alinsod brought them some provisions.

After this, all four of the brothers were taken by truck to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa, Rizal, around 25 kilometers (16 miles) south of Manila. There they were again fingerprinted and photographed and their hair was shaved on top in the shape of a cross, supposedly to indicate that they were traitors against the government. Again Brother Dos Santos was kept away from the other prisoners. He was placed in solitary confinement and not allowed out in the sunlight.

Brothers Delavin, Dagdag and Maninang were put in a large cell with several Sakdalistas, members of a rebel movement advocating the overthrow of the government. The brothers witnessed to these men fearlessly. Toward the end of December 1941, it was announced that all Sakdalistas would be released if they would henceforth support the government and renounce their political beliefs. The three brothers immediately told the guards that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses and were not traitors against the government and so had nothing to renounce. As a result of this firm declaration, they were separated from the Sakdalistas, given better treatment, and later that night, released along with Brother Dos Santos.

While Brother Pedro Navarro of San Fabian, Pangasinan, about two hundred kilometers (124 miles) north of Manila, and several others were cycling to Manila to get literature for field service, they learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On their way back, they saw that the American forces (USAFFE​—United States Armed Forces in the Far East) were deploying themselves along the roads and beaches and that people in general were evacuating to the hills. So, upon reaching Pangasinan, these brothers also left their homes and went with their families to the hills of Lobong, to San Jacinto, Pangasinan.

On December 14, 1941, seventeen of these brothers were arrested. They were asked by the Filipino military authorities if the Kingdom they were proclaiming was the Japanese government and if Jehovah was the name of a Japanese god. The brothers answered clearly that the Kingdom was God’s and that Jehovah is the God of the entire universe. The army sergeant then spread both an American and a Filipino flag side by side on a tree trunk and ordered Brother Navarro to strip to his shorts and kneel and kiss the flags. When he remained standing he was beaten mercilessly in front of the other brothers until he fell down. Told to  stand up, he was immediately knocked down again. The brother was beaten by alternating groups of four soldiers from nightfall until 1:30 the following morning, with only brief intervals in between. Brother Navarro suffered a dislocated rib as a result of the mistreatment.

This display of brute force did not make the observing brothers afraid as the soldiers had hoped. Since these Witnesses, too, refused to compromise, they also were beaten, were burned with cigarette ends, and had bullets placed between their fingers before these were squeezed together very hard. The next day the seventeen brothers were taken to Manaoag cemetery and told they were to be shot. Instead, they were left out in the tropical sun without cover from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. before being questioned again by the officers. Thereafter, the brothers were taken to the Dagupan City jail and released after two or three days, only to be rearrested a day later and imprisoned in Tayug, Pangasinan.

After further mistreatment, during which Brother Navarro and his uncle were chained together and regularly beaten in an open plaza, the Witnesses were finally transported to Manila in an army truck. Since the Japanese were frequently bombing bridges and highways at that time, whenever an air raid came the soldiers would take cover by the side of the road, but, with their guns trained on them, they would leave the brothers in the truck, hoping they would be bombed on the highway. They survived, however, and, upon reaching Manila, were investigated at the USAFFE headquarters, where they were cleared of the charges against them and were released.

The freed Witnesses remained in Manila for a few days, trying to contact the brothers, but the first time they went to the branch office, it was closed. The following day they went again and were happy to meet Brother Dos Santos, who had just arrived after being released from the National Penitentiary. On December 26, 1941, however, the American forces had declared Manila an open city. The Japanese armies already were marching toward the capital city and in a few days they would be in complete control of Manila. Realizing this, the branch overseer urged Brother Navarro to return to Pangasinan, taking along as much literature and other supplies as he could carry. How the brothers and sisters in San Jacinto rejoiced when Brother Navarro and the others arrived back home safe and sound, since they felt sure the entire group of brothers had been executed!

Back in Manila, with the Japanese occupation impending, the branch overseer took steps to protect the  Society’s interests. Since alien-owned property would no doubt be confiscated by the invading forces, it was arranged that the branch office property on M. Natividad Street be sold. Literature was distributed to the homes of a number of brothers in Manila, and the branch records were destroyed. When the Japanese soldiers entered Manila on January 2, 1942, they posted notices throughout the city ordering all “enemy” aliens to report at once for internment at the Santo Tomás University. So it was that on January 26, 1942, the branch overseer entered this improvised prison camp, there to remain for over three years, until March 13, 1945. His wife, being a Filipino citizen, was not imprisoned with him.

At the beginning of his imprisonment, Brother Dos Santos was able to have occasional visits from his wife and other Witnesses, and this gave him opportunity to provide helpful advice. Later, when the camp came under military control, this was no longer possible. On one occasion, he received a letter from Brother Nathan H. Knorr, the new president of the Society, informing him of the death of Brother Rutherford on January 8, 1942.

CONTINUED GROWTH DURING JAPANESE OCCUPATION

During the prewar trials from the combined American and Filipino forces and the subsequent persecution caused by the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the Witnesses maintained strict neutrality. In the 1938 and 1939 Yearbooks they had read how their persecuted brothers in Nazi Germany were maintaining faithfulness to God, and this was a real source of encouragement. Additionally, Jehovah providentially had arranged for the booklet Neutrality to be on hand here for the brothers’ use even before the war came to the Philippines. Hence, they were aware of their Scriptural position in the face of the overlapping, and often coexisting, opposing forces.

The imprisonment of the branch overseer and the closing of the Society’s office in Manila did not stop the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom; nor did it slow down the growth of the number of Jehovah’s people. The appointed zone servants for the most part remained in their assigned areas during this difficult time and faithfully cared for the Kingdom interests entrusted to them as best they could under the circumstances.

In tracing the steady growth of the Kingdom work during the three dark years of the Japanese occupation  (1942-1945), it seems fitting to view the matter from the standpoint of five different sections of the country, each with its own distinctive story: (1) Central and Southern Luzon, including Manila; (2) Northern Luzon; (3) Western Visayas; (4) Northern Mindanao and Eastern Visayas; and (5) Southern Mindanao.

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LUZON

Once the Japanese occupation forces entered Manila, life became hard in the city. Hence, many people evacuated to the provinces. A number of Manila brothers moved to an evacuation center in the town of Bay in the province of Laguna, around seventy-five kilometers (47 miles) south of the city. There the brothers all stayed together, thus, in effect, transferring much of the Manila Company (Congregation) to the town of Bay. They held regular studies in the latest publications that were available. Every Sunday they would share in the field service, systematically covering the towns and barrios (villages) around Bay. Being close to Manila, they were able to get literature that had been stored in the homes of brothers before the war and they used this in the witnessing activity until the supply was exhausted. After that the brothers lent books to interested people.

As a result of this spreading of the good news from Bay, the Rubio family, living in Makiling, Calamba, about twenty kilometers (12 miles) away, was contacted and soon all of them accepted the truth and were baptized. Being a large family, they were formed into a separate congregation in Makiling. Later, when it became dangerous in Bay due to Japanese attacks, the brothers moved from there to Makiling and stayed with this family on their large tract of land. From there they witnessed to surrounding areas, reaching into Batangas province, often leaving home at 3 a.m. using torches to light their way so that they could reach their territory by daybreak. Because of danger from Japanese patrols or Filipino guerrillas, the brothers often got separated from one another. So they always took a count before moving out and when returning home.

However, not all brothers left Manila when the war broke out. Some remained in the city, met together for study in various homes, and continued declaring the good news to the extent possible. In adjoining Pasay City, there was an active group of publishers, and in 1943 they even arranged a small assembly with Witnesses present from Pampanga province.

To the north of Manila, in the central plains of Pampanga  and Bulacan, a young brother named Ruben Lacanilao was appointed as zone servant during the war. This brother was instrumental in aiding many to learn the truth, including his own family members. Realizing the importance of water baptism after reading the book Riches, these new disciples were immersed while wearing white clothing and singing Kingdom songs (composed by Brother Lacanilao and put to worldly tunes). During the first year of the occupation, fifty were baptized in this group, with fifty others showing much interest and associating with the brothers. Although there was only one congregation in that area, meetings were held in three different locations by rotation, namely, in Mandili, Batasan and Pampangsapa.

During this time, the Hukbalahap movement was formed to fight the Japanese. This is a contraction of the Tagalog expression Hukbo ng Bayan laban sa Hapon, or “People’s Army against Japan.” These were called Huks for short. Following the war, they remained active in subversive activity against the Philippine government, and for this they were later outlawed.

On one occasion, when about eighty-five brothers were gathered for study in a private home, a fierce encounter took place between the Huks and the Japanese soldiers just thirty meters (100 feet) away from the house. The brothers remained where they were, feeling that it would show a lack of faith in Jehovah to run away and hide. Not one of them was hurt, although several civilians were killed by stray bullets during the fight, which lasted five hours.

Because of their refusal to join the Huks in fighting against the Japanese, the Witnesses were often suspected of being pro-Japanese. The Huks would regularly attempt to recruit the brothers for guerrilla warfare. Especially were they interested in Brother Lacanilao, since he was a fluent speaker and good organizer and they believed he possessed some “hidden wisdom” because he had dabbled in spiritism and forecast future events before he learned the truth. At first they tried to entice him with offers of high position in their organization; later they used pressure. But he steadfastly maintained his neutral position and continued serving the brothers as zone servant, visiting congregations in all the central Luzon provinces to strengthen them.

This brother translated past Watchtower articles regularly into Pampango for the benefit of the brothers. He would type or write out his translation. Then this would be lent to different families. The family heads would prepare questions on a certain section and submit  these to the study conductor. The daily text was translated from the latest Yearbook available, and this would be discussed by each family after singing songs. Little by little, Brother Lacanilao also translated the Society’s book Children into Pampango, doing so orally while a battery of fourteen brothers in a circle around him copied down what he said. Since he was wanted by the Huks, he would do this translation work in hiding, at one time working in a hut in the center of a watermelon field, while brothers kept watch outside in case visitors should come. If people did come around, Brother Lacanilao would hide his typewriter underneath other things in a wicker basket and pretend to be doing something else.

Because material being translated was selected to build up the brothers in the faith, they were well fortified spiritually for the difficulties they faced. Since they were captured and investigated many times, often they escaped death only through the intervention of relatives who were with the Huk movement. On one occasion, however, Brother Armando Sarmiento, a presiding overseer, was captured, hung upside down from a tree and used as a knife-throwing target until he was killed. Thus he died faithful to Jehovah as a person who refused to violate his Christian neutrality.

In spite of the critical situation, the brothers were able to meet together for “zone assemblies” from time to time. In September of 1943, they met in barrio Mandili in Candaba, Pampanga. Brothers from Pasay City and Manila, as well as a large group from Angat, Bulacan, were invited.

Thus the brothers in central Luzon kept active and strong in faith during the war. When the war ended, Brother Lacanilao continued to build up the brothers under the direction of the branch office until one day, July 9, 1945, when a band of Huks broke into his home and demanded at gunpoint that he go with them in their fight against the Philippine government. When he steadfastly refused, the berdugo (executioner) counted to three and fired at him point-blank in front of his brothers and sisters. He lived for a half hour after this, and to comfort him his family sang a Kingdom song entitled “Forward, March Even unto Death!” This faithful brother spent his dying moments encouraging his family to faithfulness and discussing the sure hope of the resurrection.

In February of 1945 the American forces arrived, and the prisoners in the Santo Tomás University in Manila were released. Brother Dos Santos was given treatment by the United States Army and was finally released on March 13, 1945. He weighed only thirty-six  kilograms (80 pounds) at that time, to compare with sixty-one kilograms (135 pounds) when interned. Telling of what he experienced in prison during the latter part of his stay, he says: “In the last months there was acute starvation. A bowl of thin rice water with salt was given to every person every day. Anything, such as camote peelings, weeds and other greens that could be gathered in the camp yard, found its way to our empty stomachs to lessen at least the horrible feeling of hunger.”

Although Brother Dos Santos had been the only Witness in the prison camp at the outset, in January of 1944 he was joined by two others, Brother Van Bolin and his twenty-year-old son John. Brother Bolin had been discharged from the American armed forces and had returned to the Philippines in 1941. Along with his son, he was determined to pioneer. They were assigned to Zamboanga City, but shortly after they arrived the war came and in May 1942 they were imprisoned by the Japanese in Zamboanga City. In 1944 they were transferred to Santo Tomás University where they were met by Brother Dos Santos. They arranged to study together regularly and they held the Memorial celebration that year inside the prison camp.

During their confinement these three brothers had used every opportunity to share the truth with fellow inmates. They had also kept their integrity to Jehovah God.

As soon as Brother Dos Santos was freed, he set up the branch office in temporary quarters in the apartment of a doctor on Oroquieta Street, Manila. Here he had a happy reunion with the brothers who came from various provinces, and he rejoiced at hearing of the fine work that had been done in southern and central Luzon during the war years. Brothers also visited him from northern Luzon.

NORTHERN LUZON

During the early part of the occupation the brothers in northern Luzon enjoyed a relatively trouble-free period, and so the work was able to proceed smoothly. Memorial time afforded opportunity to assemble together, and this was done during each of the four years. The first Memorial was celebrated in Caba, La Union, not long after the occupation began in 1942, and around 100 persons were in attendance.

From 1943 until 1945, the zone servant, Brother Benjamin Sampana, arranged for “zone assemblies” to be held at Memorial time. At these gatherings instructions were given for the following year’s service and pioneers were assigned to witness in specific towns.  Although accurate counts were not kept in those days, it is clear that the attendance at the 1945 assembly was more than five times that of the Memorial in 1942. This showed that Jehovah was bringing in the increase during the war years.

In between these memorable assemblies the publishers and pioneers kept on declaring the good news and meeting together to study the Children book, the latest available publication of the Society. In some places the brothers found it advisable to change the meeting place each week, both as a convenience to them as well as to avoid attracting the attention of the Japanese authorities.

Toward the end of 1944, the Americans began periodic bombing raids on the Philippines. This caused the Japanese occupation forces to institute harsher controls on the people. At the same time, guerrillas had been mobilized, and Jehovah’s Witnesses found themselves between two fires, as it were. So, in some areas the brothers were forced to flee from their homes. Those in La Union took to the hills and jungle, and in Baguio City Witnesses took refuge in caves as a protection from the bombing. Wherever they went, they took along their literature and continued studying God’s Word.

In spite of the precautions taken, the brothers could not avoid all contact with the opposing forces, and many times they were beaten by either Japanese spies or Filipino guerrillas. Up north in Bucay, Abra, Brother Isabelo Taeza and his pioneer group, fourteen of them in all, were arrested by the Japanese. The fourteen brothers were imprisoned, to be executed after a few days. Every evening they were beaten with a piece of wood or a pick handle. No food was given them for three days. When the day of their execution came, the Japanese notified the town mayor, as was their custom. The mayor, in turn, informed the brothers’ relatives, but, when he found that some of these were his close friends, he intervened on behalf of the condemned Witnesses. Happily the execution was stopped and the brothers were freed. Certainly, on that occasion they felt the protecting hand of Jehovah over them!

Later, the same group fell into the hands of the guerrillas, who demanded that they either join them or be killed. Out of fear, one or two of these pioneers compromised on this occasion, but the majority stood firm and were not harmed. This pioneer group did much zealous work in those difficult times, and they were privileged to establish the Abulug and Claveria Congregations in Cagayan province, as well as to fortify the brothers in the Bucay, Abra, Congregation.

 So, the work of Jehovah’s people progressed steadily during the occupation on the island of Luzon. But how did the brothers fare in the southern islands, such as the western Visayas?

WESTERN VISAYAS

By the time the war broke out, congregations had been established in Bacolod City, Iloilo City and Cebu City, one on each of the three main islands of the area. Let us see what happened to the brothers in these places from 1942 to 1945.

When war erupted, the brothers in Bacolod City moved out to the mountains of Kabatangan and continued witnessing and meeting together there. They lived in small huts, camping as a group, and functioned just like a congregation, having regular meetings and arrangements for field service. On one occasion, the people in the area learned that a Japanese patrol was approaching and all except the Witnesses went into hiding. The brothers closed all the doors and windows and quietly remained inside their huts, praying to Jehovah. All who fled and hid were captured by the Japanese, but God’s people were not touched. After staying for a short time in the mountains, it became possible for the group to return to Bacolod City, where they remained, continuing their service to Jehovah, for the duration of the war.

When the Japanese occupied Iloilo City the brothers evacuated to barrio Buntatala in Leganes, just outside the city. There they met together for meetings in the home of the Gustilo family. On one occasion they held the Memorial there and it was attended by a few brothers from Bacolod City. Later, when it became too dangerous in that place, the brothers moved to the land of Brother Blas Pamplona in barrio Bilidan, Santa Barbara, Iloilo, where things were more peaceful.

In Bilidan the brothers built their homes on the land of Brother Pamplona, and a Kingdom Hall was constructed for meetings. During the day they would farm the land, with each family sharing in the produce, and in the evenings they would study God’s Word together, using the Salvation and Children books, which Brother Manuel Enicola would orally translate into Hiligaynon as they went along. Later, one of the group put up some capital and the brothers went into a little buy-and-sell business to help support themselves. They would travel to various towns to sell their goods, and would witness as they did so, sometimes giving public lectures. In this way they were able to witness to the towns of Dingle, Santa Barbara, Cabatuan,  Lucena, Leganes, Zarraga, Barotac Nuevo, Lambunao, Janiuay and Calinog.

Since Brother Manuel Enicola had been a court stenographer previously, the army invited him to be stenographer for the court-martial in that area. Thinking that this was an opportunity to give a ‘testimony before kings and rulers,’ he went to the camp to explain why he could not accept the position offered. (Matt. 10:18) This resulted in his being imprisoned in the Regimental Detention Camp, where he was fed only rice broth. Later, even this was not forthcoming, so that the prisoners took large gulps of water to ease the pangs of hunger. Signs of the American forces’ arrival saved this brother from a worse fate, and charges were never filed against him. Later, he studied at Gilead School in New York and for a time served as a member of the Bethel family in Quezon City.

Over in Cebu City, the brothers encountered much difficulty right from the beginning of the war. Brother Leodegario Barlaan and Sister Natividad Santos, who later became his wife, were pioneering in Cebu along with several others at the time. They were accused by the government authorities of being fifth columnists and were imprisoned for five days in Tuburan, Cebu. Samples of their literature were sent to army headquarters, but a telegram came back ordering the release of Jehovah’s Witnesses, thus clearing them of this false charge. They were told not to witness to the people, but the brothers ‘obeyed God rather than men’ and carried on with their work, using their good supply of the book Children and the booklet End of Axis Powers​—Comfort All That Mourn. (Acts 5:29) Two weeks later, they were arrested again and imprisoned, this time in Cebu City. Although the officer in charge was kind, he explained that if they were allowed to proclaim their message publicly, they would discourage others from fighting the war. However, when the Japanese began bombing the city, all prisoners were released. So again these Witnesses were free.

Around the end of 1942, Brother Barlaan and Sister Santos were arrested again, this time by the Filipino guerrillas who tried to get the brothers to sign an affidavit stating that they were Japanese spies. Upon refusing to do this, these faithful Christians were given a mock trial, were sent to the guerrilla headquarters and then were moved around to various guerrilla camps for a period of eight months, doing forced labor. On one occasion they were required to sing a patriotic song, but they sang a Kingdom song instead. In July 1943, these persevering Witnesses were released,  having finally convinced the guerrillas that they were neutral Christians, not Japanese spies.

Even though Brother Barlaan and Sister Santos had only the worn-out clothes they were wearing when released, they immediately began declaring the good news again. Providentially, a young boy told them of a person nearby who also was a Witness. He turned out to be an interested man who had read the Society’s book Creation. This hospitable person invited the entire group of pioneers to stay with him, and for a time they used his home for weekly studies. The brothers would spend one week witnessing and earn their living the next, Brother Barlaan by planting corn on the householder’s land and Sister Santos by weaving hats that she would sell in the market for ₱1.00 each (50c U.S.). In this way, through the generous assistance of the kind householder, they were able to buy new clothes. After two months of study, this interested man was baptized by Brother Barlaan.

By now the group of pioneers had reached eleven in number. They worked in the mountains of Tuburan and covered the towns of Sugod, Catmon, Carmen and Danao, eventually reaching Toledo City on the west coast of Cebu Island. In this latter place they established a Watchtower study (using back issues of the magazines) as well as a Cebuano study in the booklet Uncovered. By the time that the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, many of the interested persons found in these places had been baptized.

Due to disrupted communications, the brothers in the western Visayas were not able to get in touch with the branch office right away after the war ended. All but a few missed the first postwar assembly in Lingayen during November of 1945. In fact, the first assembly the majority of them attended on Luzon was the one held in Manila in March 1947 during Brother N. H. Knorr’s first visit to the Philippines. They kept right on declaring the good news, however, and in March 1946 the Hiligaynon-speaking brothers arranged an assembly on their own initiative in Santa Barbara, Iloilo.

NORTHERN MINDANAO AND EASTERN VISAYAS

Following the Manila Grand Opera House assembly in 1940, Brother Conrado Daclan was assigned to cover northern Mindanao and eastern Visayas as a zone servant. In April or May of that year he arrived in Ozamis City, his first stop. Interest was found there and the new ones contacted soon joined Brother Daclan and the other pioneers in witnessing throughout the  entire northern Mindanao area from Zamboanga to Surigao.

The brothers often ran into difficulties due to wartime pressures. In Malaybalay, Bukidnon, at army headquarters, Brother Juliano Hermosa was arrested on a spy charge, but was later released. Later the entire pioneer group was arrested on the same charge and imprisoned for a few days in Gingoog. Brother Solano of Manila was with them when they were arrested on that occasion. Again, they were released.

In making their way eastward, the Witnesses finally arrived at what was to become their wartime headquarters in Buenavista, Agusan. Here again they soon found themselves behind bars, although the guards were amazed to see the joy of the brothers as they sang songs of praise to Jehovah. The Witnesses spoke about the truth to some of the guards and a number of these showed considerable interest in the message. At this time Brother Daclan was interviewed by American officers and he made a signed statement in answer to 75 questions put to him. Evidently this information was forwarded to Australia, since not long afterwards word was reportedly received from General MacArthur’s headquarters there that Jehovah’s Witnesses were not guilty of fifth column activity. So, they were released. This was in the spring of 1942.

By this time there were about 100 publishers in the Buenavista “Company” and they divided into four smaller groups. The Children book was studied weekly, and service meetings also were arranged, although these consisted mainly of talks from the Society’s publications and encouragement to keep on declaring the good news. When violence broke out between the opposing war forces, the Witnesses moved the meetings from place to place, sometimes meeting in the hills to avoid the fighting. Since they loved to sing, Bible poems were composed by the brothers and were set to Protestant hymns to serve as Kingdom songs. An orchestra was arranged by Antonio Yangzon, and Francisco Borja taught the brothers to sing in four-part harmony.

When the public schools closed down because of the war, the Buenavista “Company” arranged for its own schools, with four groups, each having its own instructor. Even children of non-Witnesses attended these makeshift schools and gave a contribution to the teachers for the instruction received. Some learned the truth in this way, as the Bible and the Society’s publications were used as textbooks.

Since communications with the branch office had been completely severed, Brother Daclan took charge  of the work in that area until contact with the Society was restored. During that period, congregations were established in Alegria, Mainit, Placer and Bacuag in Surigao province, and in Cabadbaran, Esperanza, Las Nieves and Libertad (Butuan City) in Agusan province.

In addition to the work done by the pioneers, at times the publishers in Buenavista witnessed in distant territories. On one occasion, Benjamin Datig led a group of thirty brothers to visit the people on the island of Camiguin. This required a 100-kilometer (60-mile) walk to Talisayan, followed by a boat ride. Since in many families no one was left behind to care for the young children, they were taken along, being carried by their parents. During field service in the various towns of Camiguin Island, the Witnesses were arrested several times by the guerrillas. Moreover, when these Kingdom proclaimers returned to the mainland, the entire group, including the small children, were imprisoned in Talisayan for eight days.

Because it was learned that the names of prominent brothers, due to their neutral stand, were on the wanted lists of the Filipino guerrillas, the brothers stopped using their real names and took on Biblical names instead. Brother Daclan was called “Caleb,” while others had names like “Job,” “Shadrach” and “Meshach.” These became so common that they rarely used their real names, and even to this day the brothers of that time often recall one another best by their Biblical names.

As in the rest of the country, the year 1944 saw an intensifying of the fighting between the Japanese forces and the guerrillas. This, in turn, brought much suffering to the brothers in northern Mindanao, since they were hated by both sides. Javier Pauya, called “Job” by the brothers, was cruelly tortured by the guerrillas and died not too long after this of illness caused by the mistreatment. In Nasipit, Agusan, Santiago Sacro and his wife Dominga were killed by the Japanese and their bodies were burned along with their home. For a whole night, Isidro Monta was tied to a tree crawling with stinging red ants, but he survived and did not compromise. Other brothers were stripped naked and severely beaten when they refused to carry bullets for the guerrilla forces.

In the midst of this cruel persecution, the zone servant arranged for an assembly in Bacuag, Surigao, toward the end of 1944. Brothers from Agusan and Surigao provinces attended, and talks were given to build up their faith. At the assembly encouragement was given to keep on telling out the good news and a call was made for volunteers to witness in isolated  territories. About fifty brothers and sisters from fourteen to thirty years of age volunteered, and they went to work first in the Siargao Islands off Surigao. These islands were relatively trouble-free, and so the Witnesses served there unhindered, locating good interest and establishing congregations in Dapa, Tuburan, Burgos and Numancia. Soon around 300 brothers altogether were witnessing there.

While on these islands, the brothers built a sturdy sailboat that could carry sixty persons and was used in witnessing in various places. They called the boat “Mizpah.” Later, two other boats were added to the “fleet,” namely, “Theocracy I” and “Theocracy II.” In “Mizpah” a boatload of brothers set out one day heading farther afield, having the two large islands of Leyte and Bohol as their objective. By that time the ouster of the Japanese forces from the Philippines was well under way, General MacArthur’s advance troops having landed in Leyte as early as October of 1944.

On landing in Liloan, Leyte, the Witnesses separated into two groups and visited the eastern and western sections of Leyte respectively. Good work was done on this trip and congregations were established in Santa Paz, Sogod and Nahawong. When the one group reached Maasin, they took off in “Mizpah” once again and headed for Bohol Island. On landing in Ipil, Talibon, Bohol, on the north of the island, this group led by Benjamin Datig was divided into three and, since the island is roughly circular in shape, one group worked their way eastward, another westward and the third southward, going inland. In this manner they covered the entire island of over forty towns and rendezvoused in Tagbilaran, the provincial capital.

On this trip, these Witnesses met another group of interested persons in Sevilla, Bohol. They were studying the Bible together, along with the Society’s publications, although they never had associated with God’s people. Before the war, Salvador Maleza had obtained some of our publications from a brother doing street witnessing in Manila. Salvador began to read them during the Japanese occupation. Although he was a guerrilla fighter, he began to change many of his habits, refusing to go to social functions because of what he had learned from the publications. A fellow guerrilla, Ignacio Digao, noticed the change in him and became interested too. So they, along with others, began to study together, going through the Bible chapter by chapter. How glad they were to meet the visiting brothers at that time and to get more knowledge! After the war these persons were baptized.

From Bohol the group joined the other brothers who  had been left in Leyte and together they sailed back in “Mizpah” to the Siargao Islands. They were buffeted by a strong typhoon en route and a young boy was thrown overboard, but Brother Daclan dived in and saved him and no lives were lost. More work was done after this in Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental, resulting in the establishing of the Balintad, Lumbia and Imbatug Congregations.

A great deal of energetic work was done by the brothers in this section during the war, resulting in the establishment of many congregations by 1946, when communication with the branch office was restored. Brother Daclan went to Manila to report personally to the branch office in that year and from then on the work was directed once again from the Society’s branch.

SOUTHERN MINDANAO

Before the war broke out, a group of six pioneers, along with some interested persons, were witnessing in Davao City in southern Mindanao. They were meeting regularly for Bible studies at the home of Brother Cipriano Sepulveda. Salvador Liwag, who had been assigned as zone servant for the area, was one of them, and with him were Brothers Desiderio Pauya, Lino Ilaguison and Felino Comidoy, as well as Sisters Purificacion Bennett and Elvira Alinsod. When the Japanese landed in Davao in December 1941, Brother Ilaguison was on Samal Island off Davao City, while the rest of the Witnesses evacuated to Cotabato province, along with many others who were fleeing from the occupation armies.

The small group hiked through deep forests for many days, sleeping between tree roots and trying to pluck off the leeches sucking their blood. They drank the water of the rattan plant when no fresh water was available. This plant is a little like sugarcane and when cut crosswise it secretes sweet water to quench the thirst. The invading Japanese were not too far behind them and occasionally aircraft would drop leaflets encouraging the people to submit to the invaders. One leaflet had a picture of the pope blessing children, and it urged all to cooperate with the “Southeast Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.”

Once in Cotabato, the brothers and sisters discussed God’s Word with both the local residents and the evacuees from Davao who had settled there. In the town of Pikit the Witnesses were befriended by a man who had obtained some literature before the war. Through him they met two of his relatives, Pedro and Aniano Brillas, who accepted the truth and are among  Jehovah’s people to this day. When the Japanese forces finally occupied Cotabato, the brothers were forced to keep moving from place to place to avoid being conscripted for work in the Japanese garrisons. They camped in the hills when it became dangerous to stay in the town proper. This moving around proved to be a blessing in disguise, as a number of our present-day overseers and ministerial servants, especially those in Kabacan and Kidapawan, were first contacted at that time. In the latter town, a man named Guillermo Alegado rejoiced to see the brothers, since he had once studied the Bible in Hawaii with Brother Dos Santos, before the latter came to the Philippines. The entire Alegado family came into the truth. Besides the Alegado and Brillas families, others contacted at that time were Antero and Macario Baswel, Alfredo Nadong, Anastacio Gonzales, Arsenio Bermudez and Manuel Gamponia.

On one occasion, some of the brothers were arrested by guerrillas as suspected Japanese spies. When they learned that Pedro Brillas was a former soldier, they beat him mercilessly. Four of the brothers were kept overnight and then taken deep into the jungle to be imprisoned. They were put in small cages similar to those used for transporting live pigs, and these were so cramped that the brothers could neither lie down nor stand up, but only sit. They continued to bear witness, even under these conditions, and, as a result, one of their guards, Lorenzo Hersan, accepted the truth and was later baptized. The brothers remained in captivity for almost two months before being released due to the intervention of a relative of the Brillas brothers.

The time came when most of the brothers’ literature was either lost or worn out and they had only a few Bibles between them. They then formed groups of six or eight, and half of them worked for material food for one week, while the other half went witnessing. The next week the process was reversed. When in service, since usually there was only one Bible in a group, they all went to a house together. One brother would give a testimony while others would share in answering any questions asked by the householder. In that way all could share in giving the witness.

By the fall of 1944, it was becoming more and more difficult to maintain neutrality. So the brothers kept together in a large group and avoided populated areas as much as possible. There were around 200 of them, including the children​—a traveling “congregation,” which eventually settled in the jungles near Lamitan, Makilala, Cotabato, at the foot of Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines.

 Taking advantage of a temporary lull in the fighting, a few brothers and sisters had returned to Davao, their homeplace. On Samal Island they found Lino Ilaguison still faithfully serving. In spite of the fact that this brother was arrested and imprisoned five times by the Japanese or their cohorts, he was able to establish several groups on the island.

When the American forces arrived on the Davao mainland at the end of 1944, these brothers on Samal Island moved to the mainland, eager to make contact with other Witnesses. A group of about fifty went first to Bato, Santa Cruz, Davao, to the home of Galicano Picot, an interested man who had been contacted by Brother Felino Comidoy. Picot was president of the Japanese-controlled Neighborhood Association, but he accepted the truth and actively witnessed to all he met. Because he could not conscientiously do much of the work required of him by the Neighborhood Association, he was eventually relieved of his position, for which he was happy. When the fifty brothers from Samal Island stayed for a while in his home, he was accused by neighbors and relatives of harboring dissidents. But before the Witnesses could be apprehended, he sent them away by night, and they traveled through the forest and mountains until they joined Brother Liwag’s “congregation” at the foot of Mount Apo.

The congregation as a whole was called “Jehovah-Shammah,” and each Witness was given a Biblical name, such as “Joel,” “Jonadab,” “David” and so forth, some of which stick to the brothers to this very day. This was done to prevent ready identification, since Brother Liwag especially was on the “wanted” lists of the guerrillas and Japanese soldiers. If strangers came near the camp, the word tiki was used to spread the warning to the others. Incidentally, that word means “house lizard” in Cebuano.

During this period of around a year, the “congregation” was regularly built up spiritually. Brother Liwag would visit each of its seven cottages in turn and conduct studies in the evenings. Since most of the literature was worn out by this time, he would prepare daily texts and comments designed to strengthen and encourage the brothers. These were translated into Iloko by Macario Baswel and into Cebuano by Moises Supera, since the group was about evenly divided between these two language groups. Handwritten material on Bible accounts, such as those of Esther and Ruth, was also prepared and translated, and this served as a basis for discussion when the entire group met together for meetings once a week. Leovihildo Comidoy  prepared questions on this material. Information from the Children book was put in simplified form in three separate handwritten sections and was used by parents each morning to instruct their children in God’s Word.

Since singing was very much a part of their worship, songs in both Iloko and Cebuano were composed by Moises Supera. These were used in opening and closing the Bible studies and meetings.

To provide material sustenance, each cottage had its own farm and the brothers planted rice and cassava. If one cottage ran short, the others would help out in the same spirit as that shown by the early Christians when together in Jerusalem following the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E. (Acts 2:42-45) While waiting for their first harvest, the group subsisted on wild fruit and roots, occasionally enjoying wild pig.

A number of times the Witnesses were discovered by both sides in the war. Once a Japanese patrol took Brother Liwag to their headquarters, where he was grilled for several hours by the officer in charge. Amazingly, he was allowed to go free after he had given a good witness regarding Jehovah’s kingdom. On another occasion, a guerrilla band searched for him, but he hid up in the bark ceiling of a house and was not seen.

Due to their isolation in Cotabato, the brothers were not aware of the war’s end. The branch overseer had written several letters to known prewar addresses to try to locate Brother Liwag, and eventually a message was delivered to him instructing him to return to Manila. So he left the “congregation” and headed for Davao to get transportation to Manila.

Toward the end of December 1945, the majority of the large “congregation” left their secluded home in the jungle and trekked to Panabo, Davao, a distance of almost 150 kilometers (94 miles). There most of them remained, awaiting definite instructions from the Society’s branch office. When Brothers Liwag and Supera returned from Manila in October 1946, the brothers were prepared and “geared up” for greater witnessing activity than ever before. Thirteen began to pioneer immediately, while the others returned to their hometowns and shared the good news there. Soon many congregations mushroomed throughout Davao and Cotabato, so that today there are 238 congregations in this section of the country.

POSTWAR REORGANIZATION BEGINS

The war had left the Philippines on the brink of bankruptcy. All over the country more than a million  persons were unaccounted for. Conservative estimates had it that the Philippines had lost about two thirds of its material wealth. The largest city had been devastated to such a degree that one historian claims that only Stalingrad and Warsaw could compare with Manila in destruction. The city had been wrecked by bombs from both sides of the conflict, as well as by the fierce house-to-house fighting in the ancient walled city of Intramuros, which conflict ended the battle of Manila. Even two years later, when the then president of the Watch Tower Society, Brother Nathan H. Knorr, visited Manila for the first time, the city was still in ruins. A report gives his observations then: “Blocks and blocks of the city that had been homes of the people were now cleared-off open country; it was truly much worse than anything we had seen in Europe a year ago.”

Thus it was a time for rehabilitation, for rebuilding, and this applied not only to the country as a whole, but also to the structure of the congregation of God’s people in this land. Much work lay ahead.

When Brother Dos Santos was released from prison on March 13, 1945, one of the first things he did after being reunited with his family was to reopen the branch office in an apartment at 1219-B Oroquieta Street, Manila, next door to the clinic of Brother Yngson, a doctor. The brother’s clinic was used for meetings.

Brother Dos Santos got in touch with the Brooklyn office once again, although letters could be sent only by surface mail for the most part, since airmail was limited to use by military personnel. He requested and received copies of all back issues of The Watchtower and other publications, as well as information that the brothers in the Philippines had missed during the war. In this way things began to move ahead again as the Philippine branch made up for the time lost and began to catch up with the worldwide advancement of Jehovah’s people.

In the meantime, reports began filtering in from the brothers in the various parts of Luzon. From these and the incomplete reports provided by two of the zone servants it was estimated that there were around 2,000 Kingdom publishers on the island, organized into 64 congregations. This meant that in that area 31 new congregations had been organized during the occupation. This, however, did not include any reports from the Visayas and Mindanao, since the brothers there had not yet contacted the branch office. Even these incomplete figures revealed what a tremendous increase had taken place since 1941, when the last prewar report for the entire Philippines showed 373  publishers. What a blessing from Jehovah and what a fine answer this was to the determined efforts of Satan the Devil to destroy true worship here during World War II!

From July to September 1945 Brother Dos Santos visited and encouraged a number of congregations in Luzon. On one occasion in July, he met with twenty-four company servants (presiding overseers) in Pangasinan in a joint meeting held to help correct some private speculations and interpretations put forward by a few brothers during the war and that had caused some dissension. Some had felt that Armageddon had already begun and others said that the prophets of old had been resurrected. These and other less serious misunderstandings were straightened out at that time, and the brothers were helped to press on unitedly with the postwar Kingdom-preaching activity.

By September the Watchtower magazine had begun to be received through the mail again and the Filipino Witnesses were able to enjoy an up-to-date Watchtower study for the first time in forty-six months. Around this time also about two hundred members of the group that had broken away from the Watch Tower Society in the 1930’s voiced their desire to associate with Jehovah’s united people. These were gladly welcomed and joined with the brothers in the postwar work.

FIRST POSTWAR ASSEMBLY

Soon after his release, Brother Dos Santos had made arrangements for a national convention to be held in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The Sison Auditorium was rented from the American armed forces, who at that time were leasing the auditorium and its surrounding land from the provincial government of Pangasinan. This fine assembly was held from November 9 to 11, 1945, and over 2,000 brothers and sisters were present, almost all from Luzon Island. Sixty congregations were represented. The assembly site was close to a sandy beach surrounded by palms, and only the ravages of war marred the beauty of the place, the hall itself having suffered some bomb damage. There were no seats in the auditorium; so the brothers got to work and built bamboo benches. The conventioners were accommodated in a hundred former army barracks made of bamboo and nipa palms. Forty persons could be accommodated in the larger ones. The abandoned mess hall was used as a cafeteria, although the brothers cooked their own meals, having brought with them to the assembly their food and utensils.

 Shortly after the assembly had begun and the brothers had started out in the field service with placards, a Catholic priest inspired an effort to break up the gathering. Convinced by the priest that the gathering was unlawful, the acting provincial governor ordered the brothers to vacate the premises. He argued that the permission obtained from the United States armed forces was not valid, since no permit had been granted by the provincial government of Pangasinan. Also, he claimed that public property such as the Sison Auditorium could not be used for religious purposes. When the brothers refused to stop their assembly, the governor sent a military policeman to evict them. However, when the policeman examined the permits the brothers had, he did not carry out the command right away, but checked first with his commanding officer. The commanding officer told the Witnesses: “Continue your convention,” and ordered the military policeman to “protect these people.”

So the assembly went on to a successful conclusion under the protection of the soldiers who had been sent to evict the brothers. The English public talk “Peace​—Can It Last?” was attended by an audience of around 4,000 persons. Other talks were given in Iloko and Pangasinan. A mass baptism of 119 was held in Lingayen Gulf where MacArthur’s forces had landed less than a year earlier. At this assembly the booklet Organization Instructions was released for the first time, and demonstrations were arranged showing how to conduct effective home Bible studies with interested persons. This set the stage for better congregational direction and improved teaching methods, which were very much needed among the brothers, most of whom had learned the truth during the war years.

Following the assembly, the provincial governor charged the three brothers comprising the convention committee with disobeying an order of a person in authority. In the Dagupan City Court of First Instance they were convicted and were sentenced to thirty days in prison. The decision was appealed and, after many delays, was heard in the Court of Appeals. Attorney Emmanuel Pelaez, who later became vice-president of the Philippines, argued the case on behalf of the Witnesses and the court reversed the decision of the lower court.

This decision was an important one, providing a precedent that was to be used frequently in later years to defend the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses to hold Christian assemblies in public schools and other public buildings throughout the Republic of the Philippines.

Shortly after the Lingayen assembly, the work of  the servant to the brethren (today called a circuit overseer) was begun, replacing the zone servant work. Brother Salvador Liwag was the first servant to the brethren, visiting all the congregations on the island of Luzon at that time. On April 16, 1946, a total of 4,185 assembled to celebrate the Lord’s Evening Meal throughout the islands.

By August 1946 the branch facilities had become far too small to handle the rapid growth of the Kingdom work. Just at the right time, Jehovah opened the way for a move to a larger place located at 2621 Int. 2 Herran, Santa Ana, Manila. This was the spacious home of a dedicated family, who generously offered their facilities as a branch office and Kingdom Hall. The basement floor was used as a stockroom for the literature. This house is still being used as a Kingdom Hall by two of the Manila congregations.

Around this time also, the Philippine branch received thirty-six cases of clothing weighing several tons. The items had been donated by Jehovah’s people in the United States for those who had suffered so much during the war. The branch distributed the relief goods, and 5,046 individuals were able to receive a share. Truly, the Filipino brothers were warmed by this loving gesture, which was much needed and appreciated in those difficult times.

The year 1946 ended with the holding of the “Glad Nations” Theocratic Assembly from December 18 to 20. It was an echo of the international assembly held in Cleveland, Ohio, in August of the same year. Upward of 5,000 heard the public discourse “The Prince of Peace” at the Philippine Racing Club in Santa Ana, Manila.

SECOND VISIT OF A PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY

An important milestone in the history of God’s people in the Philippines was reached during the “Praise-giving Nations” Theocratic Assembly, which was held from March 31 to April 2, 1947. On the opening day the assembly was held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Vito Cruz Street, Manila. But because poor acoustics rendered the different language programs almost unintelligible, the gathering was transferred to the Philippine Racing Club in Santa Ana for the last two days.

For the first time since Brother Russell’s visit in 1912, a president of the Watch Tower Society, N. H. Knorr, was scheduled to visit the Philippines, and the brothers were eager to meet him. This was the first truly national convention since the war, with brothers  present from the Visayas and Mindanao, as well as from Luzon. Due to delays, Brother Knorr and his secretary Milton G. Henschel did not arrive until April 1. But when they did arrive, they were given a rousing welcome by their Filipino brothers.

On the last day of the assembly, Wednesday, April 2, Brother Knorr met with the pioneers and for the first time invited Filipino brothers to fill out applications to attend the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead in the United States. Thirty-six applications were turned in that morning. While this was going on, a baptism of 151 new disciples was taking place in Manila Bay, with the remains of the many sunken ships, silent reminders of the Battle of Manila, in full view. In the afternoon the public lecture “The Joy of All the People” was delivered by Brother Knorr to an audience of 4,200. The entire talk was broadcast over radio station KZPI, which had sufficient power to cover the entire country. In concluding the assembly, among other things, Brother Knorr announced that four graduates of Gilead School would be arriving in the Philippines soon, and this filled the hearts of the Filipino brothers with great anticipation.

FIRST GILEAD GRADUATES ARRIVE

Less than three months after this assembly, or on June 14, 1947, the first three Gilead graduates assigned to the Philippines arrived, to be followed a month later by a fourth. These were Brothers Earl Stewart, Victor White, Lorenzo Alpiche and Nick Skelparick.

The brothers met them at the dock and took them to the branch office. Since there was not sufficient room at the branch office, the new arrivals were housed temporarily in a room above a laundry about a block away. A month later Brothers White and Alpiche were assigned to travel as servants to the brethren, while Brother Stewart was appointed to serve as the new branch overseer in place of Brother Dos Santos. Brother and Sister Dos Santos stayed on at the branch office until February of 1949, when they began preparing to leave for Hawaii. On July 17, 1949, they left the Philippines, having played a big part during the formative years of the branch here.

FIRST CIRCUIT ASSEMBLIES

By the end of 1947, twelve circuits had been organized as the circuit arrangement began to be implemented in this land. The first series of twelve circuit assemblies ran from September to December 1947, and Brother Stewart served all of them as district overseer. This  afforded him a fine opportunity to see the condition of the brothers throughout the country and to get acquainted with them.

The Filipino brothers overcame seemingly insurmountable difficulties to get to the assembly places. In Surigao one brother was the only survivor when a motorship sank during a typhoon. He lost most of his belongings, but still attended the assembly. Five typhoons swept through the country during the entire series of assemblies, but these did not deter the brothers from attending. In northern Luzon, two raftloads of brothers floated down the Abra River from their mountain homes to attend the assembly in Vigan. When they reached the mouth of the river, they dismantled their rafts and sold the lumber in order to buy tickets to go home on the bus after the assembly.

In a report to the Society’s Brooklyn office, the branch overseer wrote: “It was a strange sight to a man accustomed to Western civilization to watch these brethren arriving at the various assembly points. They brought with them big bags of rice, bundles of food, sleeping mats, many children and polite, welcoming smiles that grew bigger as the assemblies progressed. With rice, firewood, an old-fashioned burner and a sleeping mat, all their material needs were cared for.”

At the circuit assembly held in the Kingdom Hall in Santa Ana, Manila, a delegation of interested persons attended from the suburban town of Biñan in Laguna province. It was interesting to hear from them how they had learned the truth. There were over twenty families associated with a splinter group of the Seventh-day Adventists in that town. Teodoro Reyes was their pastor and they had a small chapel in barrio De La Paz. At first they were awaiting the second coming of Jesus, but one day a pastor from a nearby province came and told them that Jesus had already come in Kingdom power in a spiritual sense. The man had learned this from one of the Society’s publications, but he did not inform them of his source of information. After much discussion, they accepted this teaching. Later, a representative of the Watch Tower Bethel and Pulpit Society visited them, teaching them the Bible from mimeographed sheets, which were also taken from the publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Still later, they discovered where these men were getting their Bible information. They heard of the assembly in Santa Ana, Manila, and sent a delegation to see if this was really God’s true congregation. When the delegation returned from the assembly fully convinced that they had found the truth, the entire congregation of over twenty family heads,  including “Pastor” Reyes, accepted the truth and began associating with Jehovah’s people! The chapel was converted into a Kingdom Hall and this was the start of the Biñan Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Six months later all these family heads were baptized, and almost all of them are still actively serving Jehovah.

At the circuit assembly in mile-high Baguio City, Brother Stewart and the circuit overseer, Brother Skelparick, met the lone pioneer in Mountain Province at that time, Sister Rosalia Sotero (now Rosalia Delis). She had heard the truth during the war and was instrumental in blazing the trail of Kingdom proclamation in Mountain Province. Being an Igorot tribeswoman herself, she was able to work among the Igorots and other tribes, many of whom were non-Christians. She gave them loving help and training in righteous ways. Now, in 1977, there are 74 congregations in what was then called Mountain Province, and it is a great testimony to the people to see what a tremendous change for the better Bible truth has brought about in the lives of these humble mountain people.

Thus the first circuit assembly series was a thrilling and successful one. A total of 7,516 heard the public lecture “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” and 366 were baptized in symbol of their dedication to Jehovah. As the experiences heard at these assemblies showed, there was much potential for greater increase in the Philippines. The assemblies built up the service activity and helped the brothers to get a clear view of the Kingdom-preaching work to be done. This, in turn, prepared them for the great influx that was to take place from that time onward.

NEED FOR MORE TRANSLATIONS SEEN

During this first trip around the country, Brother Stewart noticed that although many of the brothers could read English, they felt more at home with their local languages when commenting at meetings and giving talks from the platform. As a result, a number of congregations were making up their own translations of the Society’s publications, doing so either orally as they went along during a meeting or by typing them out ahead of time. The Manila Congregation was mimeographing its own translation of The Watchtower into Tagalog, while in Angat, Bulacan, the book “Let God Be True” was being translated and mimeographed by the brothers. Since this did not always result in the most accurate translation of the Bible truths, it was found advisable for the Society to take  over this work and to produce more local-language literature. Work was begun on the book “Let God Be True” in Tagalog, Iloko and Cebuano; and The Watchtower began to be mimeographed semimonthly in Tagalog in September of 1947. By 1948 The Watchtower was being mimeographed also in Hiligaynon and Iloko, to be followed in 1949 by the Cebuano and Pangasinan editions. In 1951 the Tagalog, Iloko and Cebuano editions began to be printed on the Society’s presses in New York. These were followed by others, until the Society was producing eight local-language editions of The Watchtower and four editions of Awake! for the Philippine branch. Today these are being printed on the Society’s presses in the Philippines.

The first bound book to be published in a local language after the Tagalog Riches book was “Let God Be True” in Tagalog, released at the international assembly in Yankee Stadium in New York city in 1950. Since that time the Society has published seventy-six more bound books, as well as numerous booklets, in nine languages of the Philippines.

MOVING TO A NEW BRANCH LOCATION

The rapid expansion that was being seen in 1947 made it imperative to look for a bigger place for the branch office. As early as July 1947, some of our literature was being stored in a section of a brother’s film studio in Quezon City, since the branch on Herran Street could not handle the large shipments arriving. A bad typhoon in August brought heavy rains that flooded the basement at the branch office and damaged much literature; so it was evident that a safer place was needed for literature storage.

After looking over a number of possible locations, an ideal place was located in Quezon City in September of 1947. It was on high ground and consisted of almost 10,000 square meters (107,000 square feet) of land, on which a large, two-story building was situated. This property was purchased by the Society in December 1947, and soon brothers from the Manila area volunteered their services to help clean, repair and repaint the building. The structure had been used by the Japanese occupation forces as a headquarters during the war and the cleaners found many old fatigue uniforms and helmets in the attic. On the large santol fruit tree behind the building there still hung chains and ropes that had been used for restraining prisoners when they were being executed. Because of the number of executions that had taken place there, some fearful neighbors thought the place was “haunted.” The volunteer workers labored happily, however, and by  February 1, 1948, the Bethel family was able to move into their new home.

How glad the brothers in the Philippines were to have such a spacious branch office! It seemed providential that there was much space around the building, for that not only made the place quiet and restful, but also allowed for expanding the branch facilities in later years. This property, located at what was then 104 Roosevelt Road in the Quezon City suburb of San Francisco del Monte, and which today is 186 Roosevelt Avenue, still houses the branch office.

EXPANSION CONTINUES

Enthused over the fine new branch facilities, the brothers in the Philippines worked even harder than before. At the second series of circuit assemblies, which began shortly after the branch office was moved, a total of 9,701 attended the public lecture and 429 were baptized, a substantial increase over the first series. Not long thereafter, the first district assembly to be held in the Philippines was arranged in the University Club in Bacolod City from August 20 to 22, 1948. The hall used was the finest auditorium in Bacolod City at that time, and upward of 2,000 attended the public talk. At that gathering, the program included talks dealing with congregation organization, and this information aided the brothers greatly.

During 1949 four more Gilead graduates arrived in the Philippines and this stepped up the pace of Kingdom expansion. The month of December that year showed a new peak of 7,952 publishers, a fine ending to the decade of the 1940’s, which had begun with only around 300 publishers attending the assembly at the Manila Grand Opera House in 1940. What a fine harvest Jehovah was giving! The 1949 service year saw a 61-percent increase in publishers over the previous year, and by the end of that year there were 14 circuits and 315 congregations throughout the country.

Another step forward was taken in December 1949, when three Filipino brothers, the first of thirty Filipinos to be granted this privilege, left for the United States to study in Gilead School at South Lansing, New York. These three brothers graduated from the school at the Theocracy’s Increase Assembly in Yankee Stadium, New York city, in the summer of 1950. Five more Filipinos attended that assembly prior to enrolling in the sixteenth class of Gilead, which began following the assembly. These eight Gilead graduates returned to their native country to build up the congregations, and the training they had received contributed  greatly to the advancement of the work. They were assigned to Bethel and to the district and circuit work.

Also in 1950, the first missionary home was opened in Cebu City. Later, after more missionaries arrived in 1954 and 1955, missionary homes operated for a while in Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Zamboanga City, Ormoc City and Tacloban City, all in the Visayas and Mindanao. The missionaries were a fine influence in the places to which they were assigned, strengthening the congregation organization and improving efficiency in the field service. This phase of the work ended in October 1962 when the last home closed down, there being sufficient local publishers and special pioneers to take care of the work by that time. From then on, the few foreign brothers and sisters who remained or who were later assigned to the Philippines were used in the Bethel home or in the circuit and district or special pioneer service. Today only twelve foreign graduates of Gilead School remain in the country.

THE 1951 NATIONAL CONVENTION

On April 16, 1951, Brother Knorr arrived for his second visit to this country, during which he checked the branch office and spoke at the national convention held in Quezon City from April 20 to 22. The assembly was held about four city blocks from the branch office on two lots owned by a brother. The brothers made the entire assembly pavilion, as well as the seats and platform, out of bamboo, with woven coconut leaves providing shade from the tropical sun.

A former studio of Oriental Pictures, Inc., was used as a cafeteria for the conventioners. For the first time at a big convention in the Philippines, this was organized along the lines of the cafeteria operated at the large international gatherings, rather than having the brothers bring their own food and do their own cooking.

Although travel at that time was quite dangerous due to the activity of the Huks against the government, the brothers flocked in from all parts of the country and 5,459 were present on the opening day. After the first few talks, the program was translated from English into Iloko, since the majority of the brothers in the truth at that time spoke that language.

A large swimming pool owned by a sister was used for immersion. It was a delight to see 522 baptized in this pool, which was on a lot near the cafeteria building.

On Sunday, April 22, at 5 p.m., the public lecture entitled “Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land” was delivered by Brother Knorr, not at the assembly site  in Quezon City, but at the New Luneta, a large park by Manila Bay. A crowd of more than 10,000 gathered there to listen.

At this convention Brother Knorr announced, to the joy of his listeners, that, before the end of 1951, the Watchtower magazine would be printed in Brooklyn, New York, in Cebuano, Iloko and Tagalog. These would replace the mimeographed editions that had been in use since 1947. The brothers in those days were very zealous in the magazine street work, literally lining Manila’s main thoroughfares and giving a good witness with the English magazines. The addition of the local-language editions in printed form greatly enhanced this work, as well as making it easier to obtain subscriptions.

By the time of the 1951 national assembly the number of publishers in the Philippines had reached 14,007, and prospects were good for continued progress. The convention and visit of the Society’s president did much to stimulate that progress.

FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM TO PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS

As Filipino Christian witnesses swelled in number and reached out to all parts of the land with the message of truth, opposition began to arise, especially in strongly Catholic communities. It became necessary, in some cases, to fight to defend the brothers’ right to declare the good news.​—Phil. 1:7.

One of such occasions took place in Sibalom, Antique, in the Visayan Islands. On Tuesday morning, October 31, 1950, during the visit of circuit overseer Pedro Fegid, some brothers and sisters were arrested while doing street work near the public market of Sibalom. Brother Gimeno Gillera and Sister Josefa Sobremisana were charged with selling in the market without paying the necessary market fees. They were convicted before the justice of the peace. However, the case was appealed and the ruling of the justice of the peace was reversed on March 5, 1952, in the Court of First Instance in Antique. In his decision, Judge F. Imperial Reyes noted: “The court has to accept as correct the contention of the accused [Brother Gillera] that he distributed the pamphlets not for commercial purposes or for profit, much less for sale, but merely giving the same to those persons who might show an interest in his religion.” This upheld the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not peddlers. (Compare 2 Corinthians 2:17.) Following the rendering of the decision, the judge invited Sister Sobremisana to visit him, which  she did, resulting in the giving of a good witness. He accepted a Bible and the book “The Kingdom Is at Hand” from her. Also, from the court stenographer this sister obtained subscriptions for The Watchtower and Awake!

On April 20, 1952, shortly after the aforementioned decision was rendered, a peaceful circuit assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses was disrupted in Solana, Cagayan, in northeastern Luzon. Even some town officials eventually joined in an armed attack, which resulted in the death of one Witness and the wounding of thirty-two other persons. The arrival of the Philippine Constabulary prevented further bloodshed. When the matter was taken to court, the offending parties were punished in harmony with the law. Cases such as this served to protect the right of Jehovah’s people to assemble peacefully in subsequent years. Thus today Jehovah’s Witnesses hold close to two hundred circuit assemblies annually throughout the Philippine Republic, doing so under relatively peaceful conditions.

On June 6-8, 1952, a circuit assembly was held in the town of Santa Barbara, Iloilo. Although the assembly was held in a theater in the town, the public lecture was scheduled to be given in the public plaza. However, since the plaza was very close to the town’s Catholic church, a large crowd of local Roman Catholics held an indignation rally to protest the issuance of the permit to hold the lecture there. Some newspapers claimed that as many as 5,000 people participated in this rally. Yielding to this pressure, the mayor revoked the permit that he had issued and the brothers were compelled to hold the public meeting in the assembly hall instead. Subsequent efforts to obtain a permit to give a Bible lecture in the public plaza failed until the governor of the province, Mariano B. Penaflorida, intervened on behalf of freedom of worship and speech. A permit was then issued for July 13, but during the talk eleven loudspeakers that opposers had set up all around the plaza began to play at full volume, thus drowning out the speaker.

This incident in Santa Barbara shocked many people in democratic Philippines, and it generated a great deal of newspaper comment for over a month, most of it favorable to Jehovah’s people. Similar difficulties cropped up in other towns too, notably in Tigbauan, Iloilo; Santa Cruz, Zambales; Mangaldan, Pangasinan; and Gerona, Tarlac. In the town plaza at Gerona, the speaker went on with his talk even in the face of mounted machine guns aimed at him. Afterward, the mayor, who had tried to prevent the talk, apologized for the disturbance.

 While it is true that the brothers during this time took some risks in demanding their right to declare the good news publicly and were quite aggressive in doing so, their zealous fight for constitutional rights served to break down much prejudice and to establish God’s people as law-abiding Christians. This, in turn, laid the basis for greater freedom of worship and speech, not only for Jehovah’s Witnesses, but for other religious minorities as well.

In the years following the war, a number of people had felt that Jehovah’s Witnesses were perhaps using religion as a front for Communism or other anti-democratic activity, no doubt because of our neutral stand on political matters. Now, however, our being a purely religious organization was becoming recognized by all. During 1952 the branch overseer was granted authorization to solemnize marriages and also to designate others to do this, a fine indication of the government’s recognition of Jehovah’s people as a bona fide religious organization in the Philippines.

BETHEL FACILITIES EXPANDED

By the end of the 1953 service year, the publishers in the Philippines had grown to a peak of 20,120, organized into two districts, 30 circuits and 487 congregations. In order to cope with the added work prompted by this growth, in 1952 work was begun on a second branch building, approximately the same size as the original one, on the Society’s property on Roosevelt Avenue. It was a two-story building, which was constructed by volunteer workers among the brothers. The work was supervised by Brother Alfredo Estepa, a member of the Bethel family. Only the electrical and plumbing installations were carried out by non-Witnesses. In 1953 the office, laundry, and shipping and magazine departments were moved into this new building, thus doubling the space and greatly expanding the branch facilities.

In the same year, 27 brothers from the Philippines were able to attend the New World Society Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Yankee Stadium, New York city. How delighted they were to assemble there with their brothers from many lands!

SPECIAL PIONEER WORK BEGINS

Late in the year 1954, we received approval to appoint fifty special pioneers from among the Filipino brothers and sisters. In January 1955, these were assigned to various isolated cities having large populations. This original group of fifty special pioneers did  fine work and many of them are still serving faithfully as full-time praisers of Jehovah.

The opening up of special pioneer activity gave a real boost to the pioneer work in the country. In 1955, in addition to the fifty special pioneers, there were 846 regular and vacation pioneers serving, on the average, each month. By 1960 the number of special pioneers had reached 270, and 1,592 then served as regular and vacation pioneers. Today we have 700 special pioneers and close to 4,000 regular pioneers, with many others engaging in auxiliary pioneer work. This fine response of the Filipino brothers to the pioneer service is one reason for the good increases that have been enjoyed over the years.

“TRIUMPHANT KINGDOM” ASSEMBLY

Another noteworthy event occurred from April 13 to 15, 1956, when the “Triumphant Kingdom” national assembly was held during the third visit of Brother Knorr to this country. He was accompanied by his secretary Don Adams and Lloyd Barry, then the branch overseer in Japan. It was a thrill to see 17,259 assemble at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium on Sunday afternoon to hear the public talk “Making All Mankind One Under Their Creator.” At this assembly the program was delivered in English, with simultaneous translations into Iloko and Tagalog, the translators using earphones to hear the English speaker. After the baptismal discourse, the 434 candidates heard the two questions propounded in eight languages in addition to English.

Two hundred brothers came on one boat from Davao, while thousands came from distant Cagayan Valley aboard forty-five chartered buses. As they arrived, the delegates were given a neatly printed map of Manila, which showed the assembly site and the addresses of the twenty-six Kingdom Halls in the Manila area at that time.

A fine witness was given over radio station DZBB when Brother Knorr was interviewed on the program “News Scoop.” The interview was scheduled to last just 30 minutes, but because of the interest of the interviewers it went on for 45 minutes. Also, the interview was heard over the loudspeaker system at the assembly grounds.

UPBUILDING VISIT BY F. W. FRANZ

Just nine months after the visit of the Society’s president, the brothers in the Philippines were privileged to enjoy the company of the vice-president,  Frederick W. Franz. Although short notice was given of the visit, a national assembly was arranged for three days, January 15-17, 1957, and 9,463 attended his public talk “New World Peace in Our Time​—Why?” at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. The conventioners warmly applauded Brother Franz as he walked to the platform to deliver his talk. Why? Because he was wearing the formal Philippine attire for men, the barong Tagalog, a beautifully embroidered shirt of jusi cloth kindly given him by appreciative Filipino brothers.

During that assembly a strongly worded resolution against Communist persecution of Jehovah’s people in Russia was presented and enthusiastically adopted by the assembled throng. Since the Philippine Republic did not then maintain diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, Brother Franz, along with the branch overseer and another brother, paid a visit to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, who was none other than the vice-president of the Philippines, Mr. Carlos P. Garcia. After the kindly granted, forty-minute interview he agreed to forward the resolution to the proper Russian official through the American government. Two months following this interview, Carlos P. Garcia became president of the Philippines when Ramon Magsaysay was killed in an air disaster.

1958 INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY

It was the privilege and joy of eighty-one brothers from the Philippines to be present at the grand Divine Will International Assembly at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds in New York city during the summer of 1958. These brothers rejoiced to see three Filipinos graduate from Gilead School on that occasion. Such international gatherings did much to unify the brothers and bring them closer to Jehovah’s worldwide family.

FLAG SALUTE ISSUE

For almost twenty years there had been a seesaw controversy over the flag salute issue, which had been touched off by the unfavorable Gobitis decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1940. At that time the then Secretary of Justice, Jose Abad Santos, put forth the opinion that children in all public and private schools could be required to salute the flag on pain of expulsion. When the Barnette case in the United States Supreme Court reversed the Gobitis decision, this eventually caused a similar change of position in the Philippines in an opinion promulgated by the then Secretary of Justice, Roman Ozaeta, in 1948. On June 11,  1955, however, a bill was signed into law by the then president Ramon Magsaysay that required all children in public and private schools to salute the Philippine flag. Failure to do so would result in expulsion.

Jehovah’s Witnesses sought relief through the courts in view of their conscientious objection based on Exodus 20:4-6. In Masbate the children of Brother Gerona were expelled. The Court of First Instance in that province upheld the law and denied relief to the Witnesses. The matter then was taken to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, where it was heard in the case of Gerona v. Secretary of Education on May 15, 1959. Unique in the history of Philippine jurisprudence was the fact that an American lawyer was granted permission to explain the stand of Jehovah’s Witnesses, before the Supreme Court. A good witness was given, and it was clearly brought to the attention of the eminent justices that the refusal of Jehovah’s people to salute the flag in no way implies disrespect for the flag, but is based purely on religious and conscientious grounds.

However, on August 15, 1959, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that children of Jehovah’s Witnesses may be required to salute the Philippine flag despite their religious objections to saluting any man-made emblem. In spite of this adverse decision, Jehovah’s Witnesses continued to follow their Bible-trained conscience in the matter. Where possible, the brothers have availed themselves of the education provided in the schools, but never at the expense of violating their Christian conscience. Where the schools have been denied them because of their religious scruples, parents have done their best to educate their children at home.

CHANGES IN OVERSIGHT

The 1960’s saw several changes in the oversight of the work in the Philippines. Since Brother Stewart left the Philippines due to Sister Stewart’s health, Louis Leone was appointed as the branch overseer on April 1, 1960. Then on March 1, 1963, when the Leones left due to family responsibilities, William D. Johnson was appointed in his place. When Brother and Sister Johnson returned to Canada to take care of their expected family, Denton Hopkinson was appointed branch overseer on May 1, 1966. Today a five-man branch committee supervises the Kingdom-preaching work here.

VISIT OF M. G. HENSCHEL

In 1960, Milton G. Henschel visited the Philippine branch as zone overseer, and a national convention was  held in the Magsaysay Memorial Stadium in Lingayen, Pangasinan, from March 24 to 27. During that visit, much loving assistance was given to the expanding branch organization. At the assembly, translations of the program were made into five languages simultaneously as the speakers delivered their parts in English. The Sison Auditorium, which had been used for the first postwar convention in 1945, was adjacent to the stadium and was used as a cafeteria. It was a thrill to see 658 baptized at Lingayen Beach, the highest number immersed at one time till then. Also, our largest audience to that time, 19,640 persons, attended Brother Henschel’s public talk, “When God Speaks Peace to All Nations.”

PREPARING FOR GREATER EXPANSION

Almost a year later, or on February 5, 1961, the Kingdom Ministry School opened in the Philippines to give training to those overseeing the many congregations in the islands. The one-month course was held initially in English, then later in the various local languages. Though the Bethel home was crowded during these early classes, all enjoyed the association with their brothers from many places. Classes were later held in Cebu City, Davao City and Iloilo City for the benefit of the brothers in the Visayas and Mindanao who found it difficult to make the long trip to Manila by boat.

In 1965 the one-month course was suspended, but in October of 1966 a two-week course of the Kingdom Ministry School began in Bethel. Later it was extended, and classes were held in sixteen different locations throughout the country. To date 7,460 overseers in the Philippines have attended the Kingdom Ministry School. What a wonderful spiritual provision this has been!

It was the privilege of nine brothers from the Philippine branch to attend the ten-month specialized Gilead School course in Brooklyn, New York, during the period from 1961 to 1965. This served to strengthen the branch organization, as these brothers returned and were assigned to work in the branch office or in the field in responsible positions. Seven of these are still actively serving full time, five of them as members of the Bethel family.

In 1961, steps were taken to have the Philippine branch begin caring for some of its own printing needs. To this end, in July of that year a Miehle vertical printing press was sent from the New York factory, along with a linotype machine, paper cutter and proof press. So, in December 1961 the first issues of  Kingdom Ministry (now Our Kingdom Service) were produced in the Philippines in the Bicol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Iloko and Tagalog languages. Handbills, forms and other material also began to be printed locally. By July 1962, four more issues of Kingdom Ministry were added, in Pampango, Pangasinan, Samar-Leyte and Ibanag, thus making nine monthly editions, which are still being printed here and sent out to the brothers.

By 1961 the number of publishers had risen to 35,713, organized into 929 congregations. With the addition of the printing facilities and the Kingdom Ministry School, space once again was becoming limited. Therefore, a third branch building was begun on June 19, 1961. It was located right next to the existing two buildings and was approximately the same size and shape. By the end of the year the office was moved into the ground floor of this building and on May 12 and 13, 1962, the new building was dedicated to Jehovah. Some 1,550 heard the dedication talk by Brother Salvador Liwag on Saturday evening, May 12, and 2,099 attended the public lecture on Sunday. How thrilled the Filipino brothers were to have a beautiful, modern addition to their Bethel home to help keep pace with the continued expansion!

MISSIONARIES THREATENED WITH DEPORTATION

On September 29, 1962, perhaps as a result of the adverse court decision on the flag salute case in 1959, the branch overseer received a letter from the Deportation Board of the Department of Justice, inviting him to appear before the board on October 1, 1962. There he found that the board was investigating the position of Jehovah’s Witnesses on the flag salute issue. They felt that alien missionaries were teaching more and more Filipinos not to salute the Philippine flag and that the missionaries should therefore be deported from the country as undesirable. One official commented that “your organization is growing rapidly and the more it grows, the more Filipinos there will be who will not salute our flag.” The branch overseer was given twenty days in which to prepare a memorandum giving reasons why the missionaries should not be deported on these grounds.

The memorandum was supplied and, after much careful study and discussion of the matter, the Deportation Board saw that the missionaries of Jehovah’s Witnesses were simply teaching the Bible and did not tell anyone not to salute the Philippine flag. They also saw that, far from being a disturbance or a threat to  the security of the nation, the Witnesses show much respect for the flag by being model citizens and by following upright conduct at all times. Because of this, in a letter from the Deportation Board dated December 10, 1962, the branch was informed: “Please be advised that the case against you and other members of your ‘JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ for alleged refusal to salute our Flag has been dropped.” The foreign missionaries rejoiced that they could continue serving along with their Filipino brothers and sisters.

Much publicity was given this case. Hence, it provided a good opportunity for people to hear the side of Jehovah’s people on the matter.

1963 AROUND-THE-WORLD ASSEMBLY

On August 14, 1963, the traveling five-day “Everlasting Good News” International Assembly reached the Philippines, after having enjoyed much success in many other lands. The Rizal Memorial Football Stadium was obtained for this occasion, but, since the seating under cover was insufficient for the expected crowd, a temporary roofing of corrugated iron was built over the 305-meter-long (1,000-foot-long) bleacher section. This protected the brothers from the seasonal August rains. The day before the convention opened a typhoon struck Manila and caused extensive flooding in the city and damage to the convention facilities, but the program went ahead on August 14 as scheduled.

At this assembly the talks were delivered in English and were translated into Cebuano, Iloko and Tagalog. It was a real joy to see a total of 37,806 attend Brother Knorr’s public talk “When God Is King over All the Earth.” Especially exciting was the largest mass baptism ever held in the Philippines, when 2,342 symbolized their dedication to Jehovah God.

This was the first international assembly to be held in this land, and representatives were on hand from 22 different countries. The foreign delegates were warmly welcomed by their Filipino brothers and were given tours through the city of Manila, as well as to the Society’s branch office in Quezon City. A number of the visitors were interviewed over radio and television stations, and the convention received a tremendous amount of newspaper publicity.

GIVING HELP TO NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

In view of the large number of Kingdom publishers in the Philippines by that time, it became possible in 1964 to consider assigning some of the more experienced Filipino pioneers to other lands in Asia where the need  for Kingdom proclaimers was greater. In that year, two sisters were assigned to work under the Society’s Thailand branch as special pioneers. But after a year they were brought under the missionary home arrangement, even though they had not studied in Gilead School. Since these sisters worked well in their new assignment, learning the Thai language and mixing well with these Asiatic neighbors, more Filipino missionaries were sent out in subsequent years.

As of June 1977, a total of 78 Filipinos have been sent to such lands as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam over a thirteen-year period. This is quite a few more than the 51 foreign Gilead graduates who have worked in the Philippines since the end of World War II, and it brings much pleasure to the brothers in this land to be able to contribute in some small way to the proclamation of the good news in other Asiatic lands.

VISITS BY BROTHER KNORR

Apart from his visits to attend the international assemblies, N. H. Knorr visited the Philippines on two other occasions during the 1960’s to check the branch. On the first occasion, in December of 1964, he addressed a crowd of 7,463 at the Manila Jockey Club. In May 1968 he spoke at the same place, and this time 9,669 were on hand from all parts of the country to hear his two-hour talk “You Must Not Forget.” Both of these visits were most beneficial and encouraging and did much to stimulate the work.

THE “PEACE ON EARTH” ASSEMBLY

During this last-mentioned visit of the Society’s president in May 1968, arrangements were already being finalized for the use of the Rizal Memorial Athletic Complex for the anticipated “Peace on Earth” International Assembly to be held from October 22 to 26, 1969. Since the expected attendance was so great that no one stadium in Manila could accommodate everyone, the branch office arranged for two adjacent stadiums to be rented, the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium and the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. But even these stadiums, seating around 50,000 persons, were inadequate. The crowd that came to hear Brother Knorr’s talk “The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years” reached 64,715, overflowing onto the lawn of the baseball stadium and onto the street outside, even filling the cafeteria site across the street.

The program was held mainly in the three major tongues, Cebuano, Iloko and Tagalog, each language  group having its own platform. The main talks were delivered in English and were translated into these other languages. Delegates from twenty-five lands were present at the convention, among them Brother and Sister Knorr, Brother F. W. Franz, Brother and Sister Grant Suiter and others from the Brooklyn, Toronto, Strathfield and London Bethel families. It was a privilege to associate with these mature brothers and to hear some of them address the convention.

Many were the new releases, not only in English, but also in the local languages, to thrill the conventioners. The brothers were especially happy to receive the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life in three languages and the book Is the Bible Really the Word of God? in two.

The book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life has certainly played an important part in the increase seen from the time it was first released in English in the Philippines in December 1968. At that time the number of publishers in the Philippines had just passed the 40,000 mark, whereas less than eighteen months later, in April 1970, a new peak of 54,789 publishers was reached! Using this book to conduct Bible studies with people for six months stimulated the work greatly and helped righteously inclined persons to advance in the truth very quickly.

The Truth book soon became the most widely distributed book in the history of Jehovah’s people in the Philippines. By June of 1977, the combined total in English and eight local languages had been 1,267,782 copies. This figure had greatly surpassed the distribution of 402,610 copies of the book “Let God Be True,” the previous highest figure, which had taken twenty years to accumulate.

INCREASED PRINTING ACTIVITY

The 1970’s have seen a continuation of the fine progress of Jehovah’s servants in the Philippines. In July of 1971, Brother Knorr thrilled a crowd of 17,071 who had gathered to hear him at the Rodriguez Sports Center, in Marikina, Rizal. He announced that there was to be an enlargement of the printing activities of the Philippine branch. A new factory and dormitory were to be built. A rotary press and other printing equipment would be installed, and the Philippines would undertake responsibility for printing the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in English and the local languages.

This was exciting news. Previously these magazines had been produced in Brooklyn, and over the years  the brothers there had given fine service to the Philippines. But there were inevitable problems in shipping each issue of the magazine halfway around the world. Hence it would be a big step forward to have the magazines actually printed here.

Permission to build was finally granted by the authorities on February 2, 1972, and the very same day construction started. Most of the work was done by Witnesses, and it progressed rapidly. By August 25, despite one of the heaviest rainy seasons in Philippine history, the 2,082-square-meter (22,400-square-foot) factory was taking shape, and delivery was made of the first of the large crates of heavy machinery from Japan.

In September 1972, due to increasing civil unrest, the president of the country declared martial law, just as the branch was preparing to start printing! It was wondered just how the printing would be affected, and there was a quick test. Almost immediately, permission to print had to be applied for. This was granted on September 28, just six days after the declaration of martial law!

Between 1971 and 1973, fourteen missionaries were assigned to the Philippine Bethel, persons with special training in printing and building. These were able to help first with the construction and then with the training of local pioneers to work in the new factory. By October 1972, this training had started, and in February 1973, the first two magazines came off the press.

From then on, the printing work has grown. Gradually production increased to include all eight editions of The Watchtower and all four of Awake! in the local languages. Then, English magazines were added. New machines, including a second rotary press, which arrived May 29, 1975, were installed to help cope with the increasing load. Thanks to the fine training by these missionaries, six of whom are still here, all the actual printing work is now done by Filipino brothers, and magazines are sent from this printery to seventy-two foreign countries.

OTHER PROGRESS IN THE 1970’S

The year 1973 saw another step forward. An agreement giving special privileges to Americans with regard to owning property in the Philippines was due to expire in July 1974. Hence, it seemed wise to transfer all the Society’s property to a local corporation. On October 19, 1973, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of the Philippines, Inc., came into being. This  has given added stability to the situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses here.

Zone visits during this period have also been a stimulus to the brothers. Members of the Governing Body, such as Milton Henschel, Nathan Knorr and Lloyd Barry, have addressed large crowds, giving great encouragement with their wise counsel and guidance. Also, in August of 1973, the Philippines greatly benefited from a visit by five members of the Governing Body during an international gathering here in Manila.

Additionally, the Philippines has benefited by the change to the elder arrangement in the congregations, which became effective in October 1972, as well as by the initiation of the branch committee arrangement on February 1, 1976. All around the field now, brothers are paying closer attention to the qualifications Christian elders must meet, and congregations are being helped by the more personal care that a body of overseers can give.

Our work has progressed substantially during the 1970’s. In 1969, the average number of publishers reporting was 45,479. By June 1977, we were seeing an average of over 66,000. And prospects for the future are good. More than 165,000 attended the Memorial celebration in 1977, showing their interest in Christ’s ransom and the benefits it will bring.

To keep pace with this, we have seen a corresponding increase in the Bethel family. In 1948, when the branch office first moved into the new property on Roosevelt Avenue, there were just nine persons living in the one building. Now there are five large buildings in the compound, totaling 4,670 square meters (50,250 square feet) of floor space, and there are 89 Bethel workers here serving their fellow believers in different capacities.

So things have come a long way since those early days in the 1930’s, when just a handful of faithful Witnesses were working so hard in what was virtually virgin territory. Many of these “old timers” are still around. Several are not mentioned in this history because of lack of space, but they are all happy to see the fine fruitage of their hard work, and younger ones who have started serving more recently continue to be encouraged by their example of zeal and devotion.

All of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Philippines rejoice in their privilege of service. They recognize the working of Jehovah’s spirit in their midst as they enjoy many blessings from his hand. And they are determined to keep on declaring his name and kingdom, and making yet more disciples in this land for as long as Jehovah will permit.

 [Map on page 80]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

PHILIPPINES

LUZON

Vigan

San Fernando

Baguio

Lingayen

Cabanatuan

Quezon City

Manila

VISAYAS

Masbate

Sibalom

Iloilo

Bacolod

Cebu

LEYTE

Tacloban

BOHOL

Tagbilaran

MINDANAO

Siargao Island

Surigao

Buenavista

Cagayan de Oro

Dipolog

Ozamis

Zamboanga

Cotabato

Makilala

Davao

Philippine Sea

South China Sea

Sulu Sea

MALAYSIA