Bantugan Lodge No. 223

The Name

            Bantugan is the hero of the Maranao epic consisting of some 25 episodes entitled Darangen. In the epic, Prince Bantugan is a godlike hero who dwelt in the kingdom of Bembaran, a mythical Moro paradise, which sank beneath the sea. He is the ideal embodiment of physical prowess, beauty and intelligence or as we put it in Masonry "wisdom, strength and beauty."

The Lodge
            It is a truism that Masonry oftentimes grows in proportion to the population of a certain locality. Such is the case of in Cotabato where Kutang Bato Lodge No. 110 in 1978 decided to organize Bantugan Lodge No. 223 as a sister lodge in the City.

            On February 9, 1978, Grand Master Calixto O. Zaldivar issued a dispensation to twenty-nine Master Masons, who were members of various lodges, authorizing them to operate a lodge in Cotabato City to be named Bantugan Lodge. At the annual communication of the Grand Lodge held the following April it granted the lodge a charter and assigned to it number 223.

            Bantugan Lodge No. 223 was constituted on June 10, 1978, by Grand Master Desiderio Dalisay, Sr., with VW Robert C. Yu as its first Worshipful Master. In its first year alone, Bantugan Lodge passed nineteen brethren to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. It has also progressively elected its officers to the Oriental Chair without seeing the need of recycling its Past Masters. In fine, the decision of Kutang Bato Lodge No. 110 to spearhead the organization of another lodge in Cotabato City has been vindicated by time.
 

            Location: Cotabato City