Ifugao Lodge No. 218

The Name
            This lodge was named in honor of the province where the famous Banaue rice terraces are located. The famed rice terraces of Mountain Province are said to be more than 2,000 years old. Carved by ancient people to enable them to plant rice, they look more like a stairway to the skies and are one of the Philippine tourist attractions.
            Ifugao comes from the native word "I-fugao" meaning "inhabitants of the world."

The Lodge
            Trailblazers may well be the proper word for the twenty-seven brethren who conceived the idea of forming a lodge in this scenic wonder. On October 4, 1977, Grand Master Calixto O. Zaldivar issued a dispensation to the twenty-seven hardy Novo Vizcayano brethren from Magar Lodge No.68 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Lodge No. 144 in Solano, and Cordillera Lodge No. 178 in Bagabag, all in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, to form a lodge at Kiangan, Ifugao province.

            The founders met in the Library Room of the Kiangan Academy and before the start of the annual communication in April 1978 they were able to hold seven meetings, raise three brothers and initiate another three in March. The members were also deeply involved in community activities such as the green revolution, home beautification, tree planting and youth development. Based on the performance of the lodge, it was granted a charter in April 1978 and assigned number 218.

            On July 29, 1978, Grand Master Desiderio Dalisay, Sr., with the assistance of VW Salvador Aquino, WB Pablo Macaraeg, WB Victor de la Cruz, MW Esteban Munarriz, WB Federico Calamag and other Masonic dignitaries, opened a Special Communication of the Grand Lodge in Kiangan, Ifugao and proceeded to constitute Ifugao Lodge No. 218 in appropriate ceremonies. Thereafter the officers of the lodge were installed - Meneleo A. Mendoza, Worshipful Master; Andres B. Morales, Sr., Senior Warden; and Timoteo N. Baptista, Junior Warden.

            With no temple of its own, lodge meetings leapfrogged from one place to another. Starting from the library hall of the Kiangan Academy, the lodge was next transferred to the Lagawe Capitol building, then to the Methodist Church, also in Lagawe, then to one of the rooms of the Ifugao State College of
Agriculture and Forestry at Nayon, Ifugao, then to UCCP at Lamut, Ifugao, then to the N. I. A. office and then to the Teachers Conference Hall at the Lamut Central School in Lamut, Ifugao. These itinerant movements caused undue embarrassment to the brethren that also served as a blessing in disguise
as it spurred them to look for a lodge site and construct a lodge they could call their own.
           

            Fortunately for them a venerable couple named Extor S. and Simeona Manzano, parents-in-law of WB's Eduardo C. Galanza and Thomas B. Garingan, willingly donated a 200 square meter lot for a lodge site. Construction of the temple started and in time was completed. Truly, the trailblazers no longer
have to roam. Their lodge has firmly set its foothold at Lamut in Ifugao province.
 

            Location: Lamut, Ifugao