Bernardo A. Neri Memorial Lodge No. 214

The Name

               This lodge is named after Bernardo Neri a Municipal President of Plaridel, Misamis Oriental and a Mason. He was a well-known and widely loved philanthropist and was the principal proponent of the creation of the municipality of Calamba, Misamis Oriental

ThE LodgE

               Just after the 1976 ANCOM, forty-eight Master Masons, members in good standing of different lodges, most of whom were residents of Calamba and its neighboring municipalities, petitioned Grand Master Jose L. Araneta seeking permission to form a lodge in the municipality of Calamba, Misamis Oriental. The petitioners proposed to name the lodge Bernardo A. Neri Memorial Lodge in honor of a brother who, for several terms, was municipal president and mayor of the town of Plaridel and was the principal proponent in the creation of the town of Calamba as a separate municipality. The heirs of the man to be honored donated a 1,200 square meter lot as future site of the Temple. On May 10, 1976, MW Araneta issued the requested dispensation.

               Thus it was that at the 1977 ANCOM, the lodge under dispensation, having complied with the requirements of the Grand Lodge, was granted a charter and on June 17, 1977 was duly constituted by Junior Grand Warden Manuel D. Mandac as Bernardo A. Neri Memorial Lodge No. 214. Immediately thereafter Grand Secretary Esteban Munariz installed the first set of officers of the lodge. The three lights thus installed were: WB Ruben J. B. Neri- Worshipful Master; WB Romulo 0. Villanueva- Senior Warden; and WB Nicolas F. Canlas- Junior Warden.

               The lodge initially held its meetings at the Liberation Institute College Building, courtesy of WB Ruben JB R. Neri, the first Worshipful Master, who was then the president of the Board of Trustees of the said college. In 1983, it acquired the building owned by Dr. Jesus E. Sanciangco, Jr. and since that time, all Masonic functions have been held in that building, thus firmly establishing the lodge's foothold in that part of the country.

               Location: Calamba, Misamis Occidental