Manuel Valencia Ko Lodge No. 210

The Name

               This lodge was initially named Cadiz, after the city where it is located. For nationalistic reasons, according to the organizers, they changed its name to Lantawan, after an imposing mountain in Cadiz City. After the lodge moved from Cadiz to Victorias, the members felt its name became irrelevant so they changed it to Manuel Valencia Ko Memorial Lodge to honor one of the founders of the lodge and the one who contributed immensely to its progress. Bro. Ko was DDGM for three terms.

The lodge

                The dispensation for the organization of this lodge was issued on January 14, 1976 upon the recommendation of Negrense Lodge No. 200. At the April 1976 ANCOM it was granted a charter as a regular lodge and was officially designated as Lantawan Lodge No. 210 to immortalize the mountain called Lantawan that is situated near the vicinity. Prime movers of the formation of this lodge were WB Manuel Valencia Ko and Bro. Antonio K. Ko who offered the use of, and later donated, a 1,400 square meter lot for the lodge Temple. Consecration of the lodge building and the constitution of Lantawan Lodge as a regular lodge were performed by RW Calixto Zaldivar, Deputy Grand Master, on July 26, 1976, in representation of the Grand Master who had to attend to another pressing commitment. Bro. Angel Tiangson, Jr. was installed as the first Worshipful Master, WB Cayetano Palmares as Senior Warden and Bro. Antonio K. Ko as Junior Warden.

               It is noteworthy to state that VW Manuel Valencia Ko bore the brunt of remodeling the old building that would later serve as the lodge hall of Lantawan Lodge No. 210. Except for some lumber donated by WB Angel Tiangson, Jr., almost all construction materials like paint, cement, wires, etc., came from VW Ko and the members of his family.

               On June 6, 1985 the lodge members unanimously approved a resolution renaming Lantawan Lodge No. 210 to Manuel Valencia Ko Memorial Lodge No. 210 to immortalize a distinguished brother who almost single-handedly translated into reality a dream of having a permanent Masonic edifice.               

               Location: Victorias, Negros Occidental