Mount Diwata Lodge No. 236

The Name
           

            This lodge is named after Mount Diwata, the highest mountain peak between the provinces of Surigao and Agusan. Diwata is also the name of a mountain range that stretches for 350 kilometers from Surigao to Davao. This rugged mountain range is part of the Pacific Cordillera that may be traced northward to Samar and perhaps further north to the island of Luzon. Diwata is the local name for goddess, muse, and fairy. It is also the name of a Masonic Triangle established in Mati in Davao during the Spanish regime.

The Lodge

            The efforts to establish a lodge in Surigao City started when traveling brethren from the Cities of Davao and Cebu noted the absence of a Masonic lodge in the area. In June 1977 thirty-two brethren from lodges under District No. 17 banded together at the instance of VW Pedro Guerzon, then District Deputy Grand Master of the said district, who made several trips to Surigao City to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a lodge in the area. The thirty- two brothers filed a petition with the Grand Lodge asking for permission to form a lodge in Surigao City to be named Diwata Lodge and on October 14, 1977. Grand Master Calixto O. Zaldivar gave them a dispensation. When the annual communication of the Grand Lodge took place in April 1978, however, the Committee on Charters found that the lodge was not yet ready to assume the duties of a lodge so the charter was withheld. Nonetheless, the dispensation
of the lodge was extended for another year.
 

            The following year, WB Wilfredo T. Mendoza was appointed by Grand Master Desiderio Dalisay to head the newly organized District No.31 as its first DDGM. Mount Diwata Lodge UD formed part of the district. On November 1978 the infant lodge hosted the first convention of District 31, an outstanding feat for a newly organized lodge such that the grant of a charter by the Grand Lodge on April 27, 1979 became but a formality.
           

            On June 30, 1979, a Special Communication of the Grand Lodge was opened in Surigao City for the purpose of constituting Diwata Lodge No. 236. Immediately thereafter the following officers of the lodge were installed: WB Pio C. Castro-Worshipful Master; Julian E. Go-Senior Warden; and Andoni
T. Dumlao- Junior Warden. With these acts, the ramparts of the lodge as one of the steadier bastions of the Fraternity in Surigao City were firmly put in place.
           

            Location: Surigao City