Pampanga Lodge No.48

The Name

                Pampanga Lodge is named after the province where it is located. Pampanga takes its name from the vernacular word “pangpang” which means “river bank”.

The Lodge

                The province of Pampanga was a Masonic bastion during the Spanish regime. It was home to 8 Masonic lodges and triangles, to wit: Lodge Masala No.154 in San Fernando, Lodge Majestad No. 155 in Bacolor, Triangle Suko in Arayat, Triangle Kalange in San Simon, Triangle Katutwan in Macabebe, Triangle Hiram in Mexico, Triangle Lupit in Bacoor and Triangle Union in Guagua. Not one, however, survived the Revolution of 1896. For over two decades from 1896, no lodge existed in Pampanga. But the love for Masonry did not desert the Pampangos. Unable to join a lodge in their own province, they entered the fraternity through lodges in Tarlac, Manila, and Bulacan.

In 1918, the Pampango Masons decided to establish a Masonic lodge in their home province. At a meeting held in the residence of Pedro Abad Santos in San Fernando, Pampanga, they prepared a request to the Grand Lodge for the issuance of a dispensation that would authorize them to form a lodge that will be named Pampanga Lodge. Their request was sent to Grand Master Manuel L. Quezon who issued the requested dispensation on July 16, 1918 wherein he appointed the following as officers of the lodge: Pedro Abad Santos, Worshipful Master; Isabelo de Silva, Senior Warden; and Ceferino Hilario, Junior Warden. incidentally, those who signed the request for dispensation are: Pedro Abad Santos, lawyer, Bagumbayan Lodge No. 4; Mariano Tiglaw. lawyer, Mad Lodge No. 12; Saturnino Ocampo, lawyer, Araw Lodge No. 13; Lucas G. Baviera, P. C. officer. ftilanuas Locke No. 35; Isidoro Makabali, employee, Batangas Lodge 35; Pablo Angeles David, lawyer, Regeneracion Lodge No. 36; Felix B. Bautista, lawyer. Regeneracion Lodge No. 36; Regino R. Gamboa, proprietor, Regeneracion  Lodge No. 36; Ceferino Hilario, lawyer, Regeneracion Lodge No. 36: Pedro Malig, proprietor. Regeneracion Lodge No. 36; Marcelino Bustos y Zabala, propreitor, Regeneracion Lodge No. 36; Isabelo de Silva, employee, Maguindanao Lodge No. 40; Benito Golding, proprietor, Minerva Lodge No. 41; Pacifico R. Panlilio, physician, Lodge Perla de Oriente No. 1034, SC; Bernardo Samson, physician, Lodge Perla de Oriente No. 1034, SC.

On the strength of the dispensation, the members started accepting petitions and conferring degrees. The first members to be raised were Saturnino David, Pascual Gosun, Candido Hizon, Marciano Ordonez and Amado Pecson.

 On January 28, 1919, during the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands, Pampanga Lodge No. 48 was granted a charter. Two months later, on March 29, 1919, Grand Master Milton E. Springer, assisted by Francisco A. Delgado, Ladislao Jose, Miguel Unson and other Masonic dignitaries, constituted the lodge and installed its officers at the Cine Excelsior in San Fernando, Pampanga before an audience in excess of 1000. Juan L. Luna, the Orator of the lodge, delivered an address of welcome in Spanish and Pascual Gozon spoke in Pampanga on the Mission of Masonry.

 Since the lodge had no building of its own, the members formed the Pampanga Masonic Temple Association, Inc. for the purpose of acquiring a lot and constructing a Temple. Shares were sold at P50.00 each with the lodge as the controlling stockholder. The Master of the lodge, by agreement, assumed the presidency of the corporation. The enterprise paid off and in time, a lot was procured and a semi-permanent building was constructed thereon. WB Jose Gutierrez David, the corporate secretary, administered the property. Later WB Quirino Abad Santos became the custodian, a position he held for several years.

The Japanese occupation was the darkest period in the history of the lodge. The Temple, along with proprietary documents, was totally destroyed. No activity could be held and several members, including the founding Master, Pedro Abad Santos, died during the war and in the early days of the liberation.

The lodge was reactivated early in 1945, after WB Basilio Castro, Arcadio de Ocera and Isidro Nifakabali secured a copy of the charter of the lodge from the Grand Lodge. The first meeting after Liberation was held on July 21, 1945 in a government building behind the Provincial Capitol.

The years immediately following the reestablishment of the lodge were uneventful, except for the routinary stated and special meetings and a few social gatherings.

In 1949, when the U. S. government turned over its depot at Lara, San Fernando, Pampanga to the Philippine Government, the lodge was able to acquire one Quonset hut through the intercession of Bro Eloy M. Baluyot, then Mayor of Lubao. The building was dismantled and reassembled on the lot of the Pampanga Masonic Temple Association, Inc. The Quonset but served as the Temple of the lodge up to 1970 when it had to be abandoned because of its dilapidated condition. Some five years later, during the term of WB Vicente Garcia, a new temple was erected on the property of the lodge, but it was devastated when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. During the term of Carmelo Naguiat, the lodge Temple was once again rehabilitated. Then came the floods that rendered the area surrounding the lodge inaccessible. The Lodge now meets in the lodge hall of Jose Abad Santos Memorial Lodge No.333 in Dau Mabalacat whenever the rains come.

Location: San Fernando, Pamapanga