Sacred Service: The Sovereign Order of Malta’s Enduring Legacy in the Philippines

In 1966, the Marquis of Rafal, Don Fernando Manuel Villena, arrived in Manila to become the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Extraordinary of the Order of Malta to the Philippines.

Don Eduardo Ortigas y Vargas was elected as the new president of the Philippine Association two years later, in 1968. A scion of the forward-thinking and prominent Ortigas family, his parents were Don Francisco Ortigas and Julia Vargas, who owned and developed the 4,033-hectares that cover the area from San Juan, Pasig, and Quezon City, including Greenhills, all in Manila.

During Ortigas’s term in 1970, Don José María Soriano was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the Philippines to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in Rome. Co-owner with his brother in the beer conglomerate San Miguel Corporation, and Soriano y Cia, Soriano would later form his group of Three Musketeers (Ramon Pedrosa, Antonio Infante, and Pedro Picornell). Together, they would accomplish so much for the Order, after the Three Musketeers also joined PASMOM.

Don Ernesto D. Rufino, Sr., bemedalled World War II hero and major donor to the reconstruction of war-torn Manila Cathedral, succeeded Señor Ortigas as president of the Order, in 1971.

In the days when Philippines’ business leaders were referred to as “The Sugar King,” and “The Accesoria King,” — an accesoria is a two-storey residential apartment — Rufino was referred to as “The Cinema King” for the many movie houses he owned or managed all over Metro Manila. The deeply religious Knight’s wife, Dame Elvira, joined the Order a few years later. A prayerful man, Don Ernesto went to Mass daily, and was Treasurer of the Family Rosary Crusade of Father Peyton for many years, together with Knights of Malta Don Jesus Cabarrus, and Don Jose Soriano.

Don Ernesto’s son-in-law, Oscar M. Lopez, in his eulogy, described how his father-in-law became less active in his old age, but compensated by praying at least eight to 10 hours a day. “Not even the Contemplative Nuns who are used to constant prayer can concentrate on praying that long,” according to Fr. Arevalo, who had witnessed Rufino in deep prayer.

All throughout this period, the Order continued to fulfill their primary mission as Hospitallers purposefully, volunteering their services and helping those in need, especially their Lords, the sick and the poor, in various ways, without seeking personal glory.

The Knights and Dames were keen to remember that their goal was not to keep track of the number of activities performed or people served, but to demonstrate sincere compassion, empathy, and love for their brothers in need.

Hospitallers play a major role in the Philippines: the islands more often than not place Number One on the list of “most number of disasters in the world.” Earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and storm surges, tornados, floods, landslides, and volcano eruptions, all of which force humans and their work animals to flee, and killing scores, are commonplace. All these annual cataclysms keep the Order quite busy, to say the least.