Jacobo Zobel Y Zangroniz Memorial Lodge No. 202

The Name

                Named in honor of Jacobo Zobel y Zangroniz, the famous numismatist, and pharmacist and pioneer builder. Although born of a German father and a Spanish mother, historian and Past Grand Master Teodoro M. Kalaw dubbed him as "el primer Mason Filipino."

The Lodge

                Already the hub of business activities in the metropolis, prominent Masons of the seventies, among them MW Ruperto S. Demonteverde and his son Ruperto, Jr., Simeon Rene Lacson, Ernesto Gonzales, Sr., and Norberto A. San Mateo, conceived the idea of establishing a lodge right in the heart of the burgeoning business district of Makati to propagate the tenets of Masonry. After securing the recommendation of Silanganan Lodge No. 19, the founders petitioned the Grand Lodge for a dispensation to organize Jacobo Zobel Memorial Lodge. On January 11, 1974, or barely a month after the petition was submitted, Grand Master Ruperto S. Demonteverde issued the requested dispensation and during the 1974 ANCOM the granting of a permanent charter was approved by the Grand Lodge. It was constituted as a regular lodge and the charter officers were installed on November 15, 1974 at the Intercontinental Hotel with Don Enrique Zobel, descendant of Don Jacobo Zobel, as guest speaker. The officers installed were: Oscar Eusebio, Eduardo Gonzales, Antonio Beltran, Simeon Rene Lacson and Ruperto J. Demonteverde, Jr. as Worshipful Master, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.

                In 1978, Don Enrique Zobel granted the lease of a 1,500 square meter lot for one-peso-per-year for fifty years to enable the members to build a Temple for their use. The construction of the lodge Temple proceeded with dispatch upon the election of WB Warner Rushing and on November 15, 1982, the lodge was opened in due and ancient form at the nearly completed temple. The lodge hall is now named after WB Rushing.

                This lodge is the home of many businessmen and public figures of the country such as Congressman Teodoro Locsin, Jr., former Prime Minister Cesar E. A. Virata and former Vice-President Salvador H. Laurel. It has also catapulted MW Enrique L. Locsin to the Grand Oriental Chair in 1998.

                 Among the other present members of the lodge are Michael Cases, Hermenegildo Flancia, Raul Laman, Ricardo Manotoc III, Charles Magerle, Ramoncito Turingan, Alejandro Viliadolid, Reslyto Ensefiado, Horacio Gonzales, Rommel DP Garcia and Mauricio Valdez.

                Location: Makati, Metro Manila