Legacy of Service: The Sovereign Order of Malta’s Humanitarian Contributions in the Philippines

In 1974, architect José María Zaragoza was elected the Philippine Order’s leader, taking on Sampedro’s old title as Delegate, instead of president. During his term, the Tala Foundation Inc. (presently called Philippine Hospitaller Foundation of the Order of Malta), was founded. It served as a non-stock, non-profit corporation for the purpose of creating job opportunities for lepers and their dependents.

An important member of the Order, Zaragoza was a devout man. His daughter Loudette Zaragoza-Banson recalled in a People magazine interview that “his life was so deeply rooted in his love for God and his devotion to Mama Virgen.”

So tangible was that devotion that Rubin David F. Defeo wrote in José María V. Zaragoza, Architecture for God, For Man that he “had a mission to build churches.” As many as 45 churches are credited to him. These do not include other structures he designed out of Christian goodwill as a Knight of Malta, such as the rebuilt Balala Hospital in Culion, and the Tala Leprosarium in Caloocan City, both for the leprosy-afflicted, whose treatment the Knights sponsored.

An article published in the Philippines’ Times Journal told of Delegate Zaragoza’s genuine interest in helping others, saying that, “It is when he talks about his present preoccupation: low-cost housing for the poorly sheltered millions, that his eyes come alive. It is when he talks about his plans for the Culion and Tala Leper colonies that his enthusiasm shines through.”

For his splendid collective work, Zaragoza was posthumously recognized as a National Artist for Architecture in 2014.

Through the efforts of Don Antonio C. Delgado when he was Ambassador of the Philippines to the Holy See, embassies between the Philippines and Italy were established in 1976.

That year, Don José María Soriano retired from his post as Minister Plenipotentiary of the Philippines to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The post would ultimately retire with him, as in 1978, an embassy for the Order of Malta was finally established in the Philippines, allowing the Order to elect its own ambassador.

Don José Maria Soriano presented his credentials to President Marcos that same year to become the Order’s first Ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Philippines.

The Order then began taking on the task of receiving medicines and other forms of aid from abroad, and delivering them to the needy during emergencies such as fires and natural disasters. As an embassy, it was privileged to not have to go through Customs, nor pay duties and taxes. Additional benefits were the goods’ speedy processing time, as well as saving the Order from huge expenses (duties/taxes), which could go to the poor instead.