THE PBMA STORY
By : Jose O. Macaroy
(From the 1976 Guidance Series Initial Issue)
Introduction
The story of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association,
Incorporated, established and founded at San Jose, Dinagat ,Surigao del
Norte, Philippines, portrays an abstract picture showing a
multi-dimensional aspect that gives a dramatic and colorful episode of a
unique civilization and culture of a distinct ethnic group of people
struggling for spiritual emancipation and striving to achieve a
purposive and progressive goal for mankind, in their sincere desire to
bridge the chasm of ignorance between man and the Divine.
Established according to the pattern and tradition of the ancient
movement under the direct guidance of Master Jesus in His native Judea
about two thousand years ago, the PBMA has its primordial objective:
to revitalize the nucleus of universal brotherhood of all peoples in the
world, without distinction and discrimination as to creed, faith,
ideology, and social and intellectual limitations.
To understand the PBMA Story as punctuated by sacrifices, its
contexture of local scenes and background of mysterious events may be
interpreted from various angles of perception and levels of perceptions.
At any rate, the story itself implicates the metaphysical, as it
develops into an awe-inspiring panorama; and keeping the imagination
constantly searching for grandeur and beauty, it finally enthralls the
mental that ascends into the heights of the Divine.
Verily, no one perhaps would expect this story to be revealing the
truth, since the facts interwoven in it are uncommon in the
consciousness and experience of man. But truths are stranger than
fictions, the saying goes. While truth has a multi-faceted aspect, the
twine of facts and fibers of circumstances and events interrelated
therein cannot be readily seen, observed or discerned, even with music,
rhapsodies, suspense, climax and its theme.
For to see the truths, facts, events and occurrences concatenate in
time and in the story itself ushers the reader into the realms of
metaphysical reality which could not be easily understood, even with
the aid of material yardsticks, weights and measurements, since the
whole story is a measure of a consistent, existential reality. The
story, therefore, was written not for the presentation of mysteries,
enigmatic events and miracles described in riddles and cryptic terms,
but a narrative based on facts, as intelligently appraised and
judiciously evaluated.
Evidently, the writer’s conceptual impressions, ideas, assumptions, and
conclusions may not be similar to those of the reader’s. From the
standpoint of known standards and categories in truth evaluation through
logic and reason, the circumstances and facts interwoven in the story
itself may not yield profitable credence and clear understanding in the
critical and analytical mind which fact is expected.
Since the opinions, ideas and beliefs of readers, including those of
the members of the organization, are not the same, the truths and facts
in this story may still remain as abstract vestiges of the Great
Mysteries that began aeons ago, during the process of creation of the
Kosmos by God omnipotent. The reader, therefore, may draw conclusions to
his own imagination and conceptualization.
The Island of Dinagat
When
a man is near the truth, he begins to doubt himself, like the disciple
Peter. When the Greatest Architect –Builder created the Kosmos, no man
saw Him. But since God’s manifested powers are conditioned by eternity,
time and space continuum, mankind began to know Him. Today, more than a
quarter of a million people, members, believers, friends and pretenders
have seen the facts, the mysteries and miracles interwoven in the PBMA
Story.
In the story of Master Jesus, only a few men saw the truth; the same
species of humans today are the same deniers of the same truth, the
original truth, as Jesus said even to inspire; “Truth shall make you
free.” But who wants to be free from the chain of ignorance or from the
bondage of slavery? Woe unto the educated and intelligent who cannot see the big elephant and unable to see himself and his neighbors, he could clearly see the roundness of a coin.
There are several keys and pointers with which to understand the PBMA
story that doubtless began with time. The reader may now begin his
inquiry and quest for truth from the small island of Dinagat, a small
mound of earth surmounted with rocks and corals, with over-growing
vegetations, indistinct as a part of the more than 7,000 islands that
compromise the Philippine Archipelago. But Dinagat Island has many tiny
islets around its borders which fact makes the story more complicated
even.
When you see a big ink spot on a white paper with your unaided eye, you
may find the dot-spot itself as constituting a seemingly compact dot
that is easy to identify. But seeing the dot under a powerful microscope
which magnifies the spot, you will see that the dot itself appears to
be divided into tiny and separate specks which seem to be distinct and
individual by themselves; yet upon analysis, every speck thereon is a
part of the whole and entire ink-spot. Such is the case of the small
island called Dinagat and the man behind the former and the later
which unveil the mystery of the PBMA, either as a legend or as a legion
whose organized existence is predicated on service to mankind.
Dinagat is an island in the Far East. It is mountainous terrestrial
protrusion from the Eastern seas of Visayas, topographically hilly and
geographically located at the Northeastern coastal waters of mainland
Mindanao. The island is a part of Surigao Del Norte province whose
rugged and irregular coastal line has been a fishing area of the
industrious people of Surigao.
But Dinagat Island is a natural blend of earth, rock and coral terrain
with luxuriant foliages, regular-sized trees, swamps and shrubberies.
Since Dinagat is sparsely populated, it has no less than six
municipalities today among which is the town of Dinagat, the capital,
with a gradually increasing population of 60,000 people. The
municipalities are Loreto, Cagyanao, Albor, Rizal and Tabahon, Dinagat
being the biggest.
Yet Dinagat island consists of many groups of strewn islets comprising
of sitios and barrios with sea-faring, intrepid and industrious people,
consistent ever with the methods and systems of earning their living by
the sea and by tilling the rocky soil for some agricultural produce,
like coconuts, uplands rice, corn, cassava and some rotation crops in
scattered farms, aside from their small scale poultry and swine and
large cattle.
Barrio San Jose is a part of the municipality of Dinagat. The barrio is
so named after a man whose honor has been cherished and venerated as
the symbol of pioneering spirit. The barrio has now a permanent
population estimated at 27,000, with transient and itinerant population
estimated at 30,000, moving in and out of San Jose, the year round. San
Jose which was formerly called Poyange is now a barrio of Dinagat town.
Why the big population and the enormous number of perambulating people,
coming in and going out of San Jose about three times a year? Perhaps,
this fact may introduce the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries
Association, Incorporated in whose story the life of a man has been
associated and inextricably interwoven. The story of the Association,
therefore, could not be understood without the man behind it.
Undoubtedly, were it not for his dedicated efforts and selfless
services, continuing solicitude, hardships, privations, at times
humiliation, the man could not have been catapulted otherwise to greater
heights of humanitarian service. Being loved, honored, venerated and
even worshipped as a man in the inner sanctum of every sincere member’s
heart, the man came into being; to serve mankind.
With about 80 chapters today, the Association has maintained a
membership of about a quarter of a million people, throughout the
Archipelago, from the northernmost tip of Luzon to Zamboanga in mainland
Mindanao. All members of the Association are bound to fulfill their
bounden duties: to disseminate the tenets of world brotherhood, moral
and spiritual ideals and render benevolent humanitarian service by way
of healing the sick when expediency and emergency require.
Missioners and members of the Association are restored to moral and
spiritual health, except those who, by their own will, knowledge and
choice, are antagonistic to the principles of moral regimentation and
arbitration, as far as habits, mannerisms and nuances are concerned.
These are the pretenders, the charlatans, the curious and the
ignoramuses who are in quest for honor, fame, occult powers and even
opportunities for wealth.
But the PBMA does not deny anyone from membership, since the ideal of
brotherhood of all men stands as one of its policies. Even a psychophant
or a moron is entitled to membership, with the hope that one day he may
became normally capable to render a measure of service to mankind.
People from distant places in the Archipelago have visited San Jose
during annual conferences, while most people nearby, the areas within
the vicinities of Surigao have not even seen the great multitude
gathering about the portals of San Jose, to witness the events and to
hear the words of the Supreme President and Founder of the Association
from whose life the Association is tethered.
Who could be the man whose power of attracting people has surprised
great political leaders in the country, Army generals, governors,
educators, priests, professionals, businessmen, even foreigners? Who is
the man behind the PBMA, Inc.? An Army General who spoke before a great
crowd at San Jose, Dinagat, once said: This is the most disciplined
organization I have ever seen and I have not found any member smoking
cigarette.”
Smoking cigar and cigarette, drinking intoxicating liquor, indulging in
narcotics and prohibited drugs, gambling and all other forms of vice
are taboo in the Association. All members are trained in the strictest
discipline, since clean life is the objective in the esoteric life which
is very difficult to follow. Self-discipline is very important among
the members. Imposition by law or by duress may not be as effective as
the inner command from the inner self of every member. This self-command
or moral imperative is true to dedicated members of the PBMA.
But while the story is veering towards its climactic compendium, the
two scores and a year ago have so soon been buried in the mist of time.
The years that rolled by are not as fast as the winds of oblivion, for
when a babe was born with cherubic face in an islet, a part of Dinagat
Island, called Cabelan, the PBMA story began. The islet belongs to the
province of Surigao del Norte. But since Cabelan is found just within
the periphery of Dinagat Island, the former is legitimately a part of
Dinagat.
The Man in the Offing
During the span of 40 years from December 9, 1934 to December 9, 1974, a
considerably long period of time has passed. But the time involved
spells and unveils the story of the PBMA, Inc. a non-sectarian,
non-profit organization dedicated to universal brotherhood and selfless
service to mankind.
Cabelan islet is now a populated community with more people earning
their livelihood. In the year 1934, Cabelan was thinly populated,
perhaps inhabited only by about two families who must have committed
themselves to work with pioneering spirit for progressive ends. Jose
Ecleo was a family head, the husband of Justiniana Edera. The
middle-aged couple who could well portray the meaning of kindness,
compassion, love for brother man, happiness and good living settled and
occupied a portion of Cabelan and cultivated a small lot for crops. The
9-hectare lot could have hidden the story of the PBMA, were it not for
both the husband and wife who decided to develop the rocky terrain
which was a truly virgin land covered by many kinds of sylvan
vegetations.
Cabelan islet is of limestone rock in origin which suggests the idea
that it had been submerged under sea water and reappeared as an upheaval
from the ocean basin some seven million years ago to become a unit
constituent of the Philippine Archipelago. There are many islets within
the Dinagat waters , but Cabelan is blessed with many caves and huge
boulders and laminated rock foundations. A cave has been discovered
which displays beautiful and imposing stalactites and stalagmites.
Spring water and seepages are found with medicinal value to the PBMA
members who flock to the islet every now and then throughout the year.
Perhaps, a curious visitor may find the superimposed imprint of
geological eras upon the seaside rocks of Cabelan, while extinct coral
rocks and fossilized conchs and petrified wood may guide the speculator
to believe that the islet really came from under the sea.
Today, the people of Cabelan have schools, fishponds, poultry and
swine, with incomes to pay their taxes in the municipality of Dinagat
whose Mayor is an energetic, young executive rated as one of the most
outstanding mayors of the Philippines for the year 1974. When Cabelan
was discovered by Jose Ecleo and Justiniana Edera , the islet was quite
untouched by human hands who have the aptitude to cultivate the choice
area for their home, sometime perhaps a decade ago before the Japanese
trampled the Philippine shores.
After many years on the ninth day of December, 1934, the couple gave
birth to their sixth child, a chubby-faced boy who saw the light of the
universe at the first hour of his natal day. The early dawn heralded the
story of sacrifice that may sooner give credence and meaning to the
birth of new hopes in a new era for a new society that can truly cherish
the Chrestos tradition of humanity when the higher values had
been taught somewhere in Judea and in the city of Jerusalem about 1,
980 years ago; in China, about 4,000 years ago; in Egypt, around the
vicinity of 7,000 and In India as early as 12,000 years ago when the
great books of wisdom were being explored by the ancient seers and
Masters of Wisdom.
For the Christian teachings and ideals are not as young as they are
believed to be, since they are the same as the oldest known spiritual
traditions handed down by God to man, after the Creation of the Kosmos.
And Cabelan islet became the springboard of a great stride towards
there- awakening of mankind, particularly the Filipinos in the “Pearl of
the Orient Seas.”
December 9, 1934 was just one day ahead of the dropping of Japanese war
bombs, seven years thereafter on December 8, 1941 in Davao, Zamboanga,
Corregidor, Pampanga, Naga and many other places in the Philippines
where Army installations were found. While the PBMA story is webbed in
events, textured and striated with sacrifices, the dropping of the war
bombs in the Philippines in December, 1941 was transmuted to greater
significance. Today, it is not the exploding of destructive bombs but
the outpouring of God’s love, the sharing of our Father’s munificence
from the Fountain Spring of both material and spiritual riches. For the
Philippines today is the center of spiritual awakening, the focus of
divine healing and the seat of a movement dedicated to universal
brotherhood of humanity.
Yet Cabelan and San Jose are the places which have become the centres
of the spreading tradition of the Arhats, the Avataras and the
Hierophants in the remotest parts of Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas where
the ideals of brotherhood and tenets of both moral and spiritual life
are being disseminated by the members and missioners of the Philippine
Benevolent Missionaries Association.
Born for a Great Mission
Little boy Ruben, the wonder child of Cabelan grew in the islet with
his five brothers and sisters. Espiritu, Orcencia, Nicolas, Oldarica and
Moises are the members of the Ecleo family. They had opened their
imaginations and unfolded their inner vision to behold the meaning of
scenic beauty of the coral island whose trees and palms swayed with the
northerly winds and Easterly whisper from the China Sea and the great
Pacific Ocean respectively.
At the age of one, Ruben was baptized at the Aglipayan Parish in
Surigao town across the sea, like his brothers and sisters. While
Visayan tradition remained consistent, every member of the Ecleo family
in Cabelan must swim in the sea. Small boy Ruben learned to acclimatize
himself with the rudiments of swimming and working by himself. Before he
reached the age of seven, one year immediately before December 8, 1941,
Ruben had already become an active, industrious and obedient lad.
Boy Ruben or Obing
as he was at his tender age of six must have known the saltiness of
table salt and the sweetness of sugar as it were, in the
truth-evaluation of facts, events and occurrences or unexplained
circumstances happening in those years. As for Ruben the seeking of
truth and learning it to be a part of his early wisdom is to experience
and live truth itself. In learning the nature of saltiness,
tasting it rather than hearing its definition and description conveys
the truth and its meaning.
Before 1941, the Ecleo family moved to the seacoast on the western rim
of Dinagat Island and peacefully settled at the southern stretch of
Melgar and Wilson, in a sitio called Poyange so named after a huge tree
with wide-spreading branches that grew luxuriantly in the area. It was
not long when the Second World War broke out and the belching smoke of
aggression spread all over the Philippines from Pearl Harbor.
The sitio Poyange was quite and serene. Its picturesque sunset presents
an awe-inspiring celestial grandeur and beauty that overwhelms the
imagination. Its seacoast to the next neighboring barrio is peopled by
industrious sea-loving citizens. Among the busy fisherman and family
heads who engaged in small-scale business was Jose Ecleo, the father of
young Ruben who was then six years old in 1940. Tugging along with his
parents from Cabelan to Poyange was such an experience for Ruben, while
he greeted his new home and environment which afforded an ideal refuge
for the family and a suitable harborage for people who sought fortune in
the seas.
Experienced in the hard ways of sea life and the usual inconvenience of
pioneering existence Ruben adapted himself easily with the new
surroundings. But the young boy could not have any chance to study
formally in the public school, since there was no educational
institution in Poyange at the time. The years rolled by, while the
population of Poyange increased and children of school age doubled their
number. Since there was no school in Poyange, Ruben was taught by his
mother the rudiments of reading and writing.
No sooner than Ruben was seven years old, he had already got acquainted
with many children and became familiar with the immediate environs of
his new playground bordering the sea. Later, he explored the vicinities
of the place and gained access of the trails until he visited the
innermost or farthermost places of mainland Dinagat, he disappeared one
day. He must have gone to some far distances where it took him much
difficulty to be home quite early during the day.
Actually, Ruben was beginning to start a mission as early as 1941,
while playing with other children in Poyange. At the age of 8, he
reached far places on mission. At 9 he had introduced some noble ideas
and good behavior to his friends. At 10, he was in Panaon Island,
Southern Leyte where he enrolled in grade Two, during the War. Whether
mysteriously or otherwise, Ruben’s enrolment in Panaon, Leyte is quite
mystifying, rather unexplainable in terms of physical standards, since
he was 11 years old; when he was seen in Poyange in 1946, he enrolled
again in Grade I in barrio Wilson school where he was accelerated to
Grade III.
Back to Leyte in mystery, Ruben at the age of 11 went to the mountains
where he received dictations from the Spiritual realm after which he
began his full mission at 12. In the mountains of Northern Leyte, he
spent days and nights, in cold, heat and hunger. He was alone at the
mercy of wild animals, like pythons, deadly insects and venomous vipers
and reptiles. He did listen to the voice in the silence. He did meditate
and heard the voice from Devachan, the voice from the Astral, from the
silence of his higher being, the voice from the egoic plane, from the
Spiritual and Divine planes. In the language of occultism, Ruben
attained the state of oneness with his higher or spiritual self or union
with the Universal Self. In the language of Yoga science, it is Samadhi
when the “experience resolves itself into the very texture of the
normal consciousness of the seer, as his Shaja Avastha. To him the
experience becomes spontaneous and he works on amidst the diversities
that characterize the outward existence, as unaffected Sakshi (Witness)”
“In Samadhi is garnered such a tremendous reserve of power that this
divine energy irresistibly seeks an outlet in service.” As a seer at the
age 12, Ruben “emerges from the experience filled with an inner surge
of Love and friendliness towards all creation and a sense of power to
manifest this Love in deeds of goodwill and help. Samadhi unifies the
entire creation through a homogenous experience. Inspired by a cosmic
sympathy of life, he gives himself joyously and freely for the cause of Lokahita (public welfare).”
As a Chela
Ruben was guided by the Arhats and taught by an Avatar. While in deep
concentration and meditation, he received instructions in the ancient
wisdom as well as the words of power or divine mantras in all levels.
The dictations to him from the Spiritual Plane gave him definite orders
for the implementation of his fuller mission. He was then trained in
reading and writing the Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Aramaic languages
to be able to interpret the ancient mysteries, aside from being able to
read the Akashic Records for reference purposes of the past and future
events in the universe.
At the age of 13, young Ruben was enrolled in Grade IV at the Surigao
Central Elementary School, Surigao Del Norte. In 1949, he enrolled in
the First Year High School at San Nicolas College. During nights,
however, Ruben studies and learns in the Astral, mental, egoic and
spiritual Planes under the tutelage of the Arhats which process of study
may not be easily understood by readers. These seemingly unbelievable
processes of Ruben’s esoteric or inner life are not quite understood by
the uninitiate, since these are the only schemes by which Ruben’s
education, both in the physical and in the spiritual could be
accelerated, particularly in the Holy Scriptures and the Occult, in
preparation for his great mission.
Through spiritual dictations, therefore, and visions, Ruben gradually
learned what otherwise could not have been learned in so short a time.
Of course, there is nothing impossible in the Spiritual, with the help
of the Lord. What is puzzling to the ordinary mind or thinker is Ruben’s
presence in many places, at the same time which power of omnipresence
is only possible for the Masters of Wisdom, the Arhats, Avatars and
Hierophants, as in the case of Master Jesus who had been in the
Americas, Egypt, India and in his native Judea, simultaneously aside
from being in the monastery in the Essenean School, near Mount Serbal,
overlooking the Black Sea. Each of his bodies was with a different face,
height, perhaps, different nationality, performing a mission which only
the Almighty God, the Father knows.
In occult science, this is what we ascribe to the power of simultaneous
materialization by virtue of the stupendous power of the Mantra or word
of power given to the recipient, by God. Furthermore, the power of
transfiguration is also manifest which means that the Master Arhat,
Avatar or Hierophant can change his physical figure at will, in
different places, from young personality to old, as it were. In
receiving the words of power, Master Missioner Ruben can materialize
anywhere at will which power is likewise clearly explained in the book
“Where Theosophy and Science Meet”. Apparently, by uttering the Mantra,
or word of power, the Master could almost do anything.
After intervals of days and months, Ruben goes to Poyange to visit his
parents and makes himself known to be in the same place for purposes of
being incognito somewhere in Leyte, Samar and in all other places he
willed to visit. In 1949, records show that Ruben enrolled at the San
Nicolas College, Surigao Del Norte in the First Year High School. In the
same year, he was also in Leyte , since he was on full missionary work,
the nature of which was to go to many places and different communities,
talking to people, feeling their sentiments, sensing their emotions,
learning the moral, spiritual and economic problems.
But as he knew the ills of man, he taught them how to live the happy
life and guided them in the spiritual. He solved their problems and
healed the sick people who flocked to him. Traveling extensively in
Leyte, Samar, Mindanao, Bohol and Cebu, he was able to learn the
dialects of the places fast, being a guided Missioner by the Spirit of
God. This is always true to advanced souls who are not necessarily
geniuses at their early age in the physical.
In 1952, an ocean-going vessel dropped anchor at Cabelan island with
Caple Jurry and Dr. Hugh Tovar aboard, Missioner Ecleo joined the group
to the United States and after his 8 months sojourn in Church, Virginia
and in some other places abroad, on survey study and tour, he came back
to the Philippines in 1953. In the United States, he made contacts with
his previous colleagues and had a chance to survey the possibility of
fulfilling a mission there. When he was back in the Philippines, Ruben
Ecleo was still with the fervor of performing his missionary duties.
Again he went up to the mountains of Leyte for instruction. This action
gave an impression to the people that young Ruben was no less than a
guided psychophant or a crazy charlatan, bent on working with
invisible denizens from whose powers he made manifest his psychic
influence.
Going back to Surigao Del Norte in 1955, Obing as he was called decided
to get married, since he believed that marriage could possibly give him
the best incentive to understand material life, human frailties and
imperfections. Marriage was a necessary recourse. It was an exoteric
objective, a moral ideal designed to keep him well-informed about
mundane life or worldly passion and of possession. A woman shall become
the balancer, a regulator, a pivot, a springboard a catapulter for
greater and higher progressive goals, both for the material and the
spiritual life of a man.
Is marriage or matrimony necessary in the life of man and woman? When
God created man, was marriage decreed as an expression of love on the
basis of knowledge and wisdom: Marriage between man and woman may be an
act of faith in the absolute Rulership of God in whose power and wisdom
we live and move and have our being.
Matrimony is in obedience to the spiritual law, and in fulfillment of
the Divine Plan for man’s progression and perfection. Marriage,
therefore, is necessary in Ruben’s life as a token symbol of human
sacrifice and love in his physical life, in compliance with the
requirement of his initiation to the Higher Life, so that he may tread
the Path, to fulfill his mission. Of course, his mission cannot be
ultimately understood, even by the few, since God’s Plan for humanity,
although progressive, is both physically inclusive and spiritually
expansive.
Glenda, the amiable daughter of Mr. Roberto Buray, of Gitagum, Cagayan
de Oro City was the woman who knew Ruben Ecleo too well, since the
latter has been with the Buray family for some time. The woman knew how
Ruben grew to manhood, how he suffered more material frustrations, since
his abject of poverty could only be explained in terms of meeting the
requirements of esoteric life in which the seeker after truth or the Chela
must undergo sacrifices, deprivations, humiliations and even
mortification if necessary, in obedience to the law of initiation into
the higher life and in accordance with God’s plan.
Very few men may understand the meaning of initiation into the higher
life, since most people are attached to inert matter. But Ruben’s
mission had to go on, with more inspiration, zeal and solitude. After
his marriage in 1955, he went to Agusan for some time and began his
major healing among the Manobos until 1957. While performing his
missionary work in Agusan, he was also physically traveling somewhere in
Davao, Bukidnon, Leyte and Samar, using different names, perhaps
different faces, some of whom are old or young identities, losing
therefore, his early childhood personality as Ruben Ecleo. With such
mysterious omnipresence in several places, he could not possibly be
identified as a married man, the son-in-law of Roberto Buray, or the
youngest child of Jose Ecleo and Justiniana Edera who live somewhere in
Poyange, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte.
With nicknames such as Ben, Obing, Fred, Freddie, Robin, Tony and Dr.
Laway, the real Master Missioner in the physical body of Ruben Ecleo
raised the dead and saved the dying from consequent death. The
alter-egos, the doubles and all other physical manifestations of Ruben’s
omnipresent personality performed the mission. All the manifested
personalities cured mysterious diseases and used the healing powers of
the Lord Jesus who first applied these powers in Judea. This process of
healing became the precursor of what is now called Divine Healing,
since the healing power comes directly from our Divine Father, by
virtue of the Sacred or Divine Prayers which are called in Occultism as
Mantras.
Speaking of mantras, Ruben Ecleo has painstakingly compiled a book of
these powerful words or letter- combinations that produce coherent vowel
sound which could be pronounced with ease and clarity. These ------
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE
(This ends here the 1976 PBMA Guidance Series Initial Issue)