Urdaneta Lodge No. 302
The Name
The lodge was named after the place where it was conceived and where a majority of its founders resided or worked.
The town of Urdaneta, Pangasinan was founded in 1858 and became a component city in 1998. It is theorized that its original name was Organita, roughly meaning "little organ or unit" that was recommended by the local "cura parroco," Fr. Nicolas Alonzo Manrique, OP, a brother Mason. The town's
historian, however, claims that it was named after a certain Fr. de Urdaneta, whose first name he could not accurately ascertain.
The Lodge
In 1990, Bro. Manuel A. Ridao gathered the Masons who were then residing in Urdaneta and its immediate environs to a meeting to discuss the feasibility of organizing a lodge in Urdaneta. The response was encouraging, so other informal meetings were held. In 1991, twenty-five Master Masons were ready to file a petition for a dispensation to form a new lodge. They sought the assistance of VW Amado V. Araos and VW Dalmacio S. Miranda, Sr., the Master and Secretary of Agno Lodge No.75, and DDGM Federico R. Vinluan. The three magnanimously made representations on behalf of the organizers and saw to it that the matter was put on the trestle board of the Grand Lodge.
On May 29, 1992, Grand Master Agustin V. Mateo issued a dispensation to the twenty-five petitioners authorizing them to congregate into a regular lodge to be known and designated as Urdaneta Lodge, UD. He appointed Manuel A. Ridao to be the first Master, Nelson R. Mapili to be the first Senior Warden and Ramil San Juan to be the first Junior Warden, of the new lodge. On November 18, 1992, MW Mateo instituted the lodge.
The Grand Lodge granted a charter to Urdaneta Lodge No. 302 on April 23. 1993. On July 3, 1993 Grand Master Rizal D. Aportadera constituted the lodge at the Urdaneta I Central School Quadrangle, while RW Danilo Angeles and RW Jose Percival Adiong installed its officers.
Location: Urdaneta City, Pangasinan