Kakarong Lodge No. 327

The Name

             Kakarong de Sile, south of the town San Rafael and halfway between Pandi and Angat in Bulacan, was the site of the greatest battle outside Cavite during the Philippine Revolution. Kakarong was then a flat-topped hill about a couple of square kilometers in area surrounded by forested terrain. Here the Katipuneros of the province built their headquarters with houses of bamboo and nipa, barracks, a marketplace and an armory where firearms could be repaired and cartridges reloaded. It was also in this place where a young 21-year old lieutenant named Gregorio del Pilar meteorically rose to fame
 

             Kakarong is the name of a barangay situated in Bigaa (now called Balagtas) but presently under the jurisdiction of Pandi, Bulacan. In this place also, General Eusebio Roque, who was initiated by Andres Bonifacio into the Katipunan established a fortress of 6,000 resistance fighters and formed the "Kakarong
Republic," which according to local historians, was organized ahead of the Biak- na-Bato and Malolos Republics.

The Lodge

             In June 1998, forty-two Master Masons from Sta Maria, Bulacan and nearby vicinities petitioned the Grand Lodge for a dispensation to form a new lodge at Sta. Maria to be named Kakarong Lodge. The request was favorably acted upon by Grand Master Enrique L. Locsin who issued the requested dispensation on October 12, 1998 and instituted the lodge on the same day.

             Kakarong Lodge was granted a charter by the Grand Lodge during its annual communication in April 1999 and on May 29, 1999 Grand Master Franklin J. Demonteverde motored to Sta. Maria, Bulacan where he formally constituted the lodge with the assistance of Grand Lodge officers and other Masonic
dignitaries. On that day too the following charter officers were installed into office: VW Felix C. Flor Cruz-Worshipful Master; WB Abner de Guzman- Senior Warden; and WB Asislo N. Nuestro - Junior Warden. In the year 2000, WB Mario F. Ignacio, immediate Past Master of Quezon City Lodge No. 122, was installed as Master of the lodge and the next year Bro. Pastor C. Garcia of Malolos Lodge No. 46 followed suit.

           Still a very young lodge, Kakarong Lodge has already acquired a lot for its Temple. Fund raising projects to finance its construction are now on the brethren's trestleboard.

           Location: Sta. Maria, Bulacan