The government auditor… The high note of Pedro M.Gimenez’ inaugural address, which is quoted below, will make us readily see an outstanding Mason‘s true worth: …No matter how heavy is the task, no matter how rough and rugged the road maybe, no Mason refuses to do his duty, no one amongst us should falter to proceed to his allocated task if that would mean for the best interest, the welfare and survival of the noble mission of our ancient and honorable fraternity. Very few are those who belong to this elite but fast-dwindling tribe because, to this day, there is a dearth of men who are truly honest and dedicated to the service of their fellowmen. To that small number belonged Gimenez, an outstanding public servant, whose appointment by Pres. Ramon Magsaysay as Auditor General in 1957 served as the crowning glory of his government career. He had, definitely, gone a long way, from his first government job as a forty-peso-a-month clerk in the Bureau of Post to his job as Auditor General. You see, he passed the second- grade civil-service examination when he was but a junior high school student, got his employment at the postal office, and shifted to night school. Two years later, however, he had to resign in order to enroll in the College of Liberal Arts of the University of the Philippines. Then, having passed the first-grade examination, he was able to get a seventy-peso-a-month job as computer-indexer in the Bureau of Audits (now Commission on Audit). Meanwhile, he took up Law in the evening and graduated in 1926. Since then, due to his industry, honesty, and reliability, he rose steadily. In 1949, he was elevated to the position of Deputy Auditor General. He was born the youngest of seven children on April 29, 1895. He was only three years old when his father died. His mother and sister, therefore, had to work their fingers to the bones in order to keep the whole family together and alive. No matter how heavy was the task, no matter how rough and rugged the road might be, Mother and sister underwent their daily sacrifices. The young Pedro who had seen their suffering proceeded with determination to his allocated task of acquiring an education so as to be able to help his family. When he was four years old, he learned the rudiments of reading and writing from an uncle; when he was seven; his mother somehow managed to send him to a local school. Their poverty notwithstanding, the young Pedro saw a glimmer of hope when, in 1907, an aunt invited him to stay with them in Cavite, where her husband, George S. Gardner, a Mason, worked. Childless, the Gardners took him as their son. When they transferred to Manila in 1911, the young Pedro enrolled at the Manila High School, the only public high school in the City at that time. Pedro was initiated, passed, and raised in Pintong Bato Lodge No. 51 in 1918. In 1938, he became the Master of this Lodge. He came to be a Scottish Rite Mason in the Philippine Bodies, as well as a Shriner, in 1958. In 1965, he was coroneted IGH 33°. After his appointment as Grand Orator in 1959, he successively became Junior Grand Warden, Senior Grand Warden, and Deputy Grand Master in 1960, 1961, and 1962, respectively. Then, in 1963, he was elected Grand Master. Gladly and unfalteringly, he did his duty as Grand Master “for the best interest, the welfare and survival of the noble mission of our ancient and honorable fraternity. “