Pilar Lodge No. 15

The Name

                Leo Fisher claimed in his 1923 study that this lodge was named after Marcelo H. Del Pilar, the father of Philippine Masonry. Members of the lodge, however, assert it was actually named in honor of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, the patron saint of the town of Imus, Cavite where the lodge is located.

The lodge

It was in the later part of 1983 when Fr. Severo Buenaventura, a Filipino Catholic priest, organized a Masonic club or "Triangulo" in Imus, Cavite. Fr. Buenaventura, whose symbolic name in Masonry is "Kwitib," was then a member of Bathala Lodge No. 157 in Ermita, Manila. His co-organizers were Cayetano Topacio, a member of Parwaw Lodge No. 224 in Concepcion, Tarlac and Juan Castarieda, symbolic name "Langam," a member of Nilad Lodge No. 144 in Manila. They were all natives of Imus, Cavite. The "Triangulo" was named "Pilar."

 On June 5, 1894, Triangulo Pilar was granted a charter and became a regular lodge under the jurisdiction of the Gran Oriente Espanol. The lodge was then known as Logia Pilar No. 203. Fr. Severo Buenaventura served as its first Master.

 Most of the members of Logia Pilar No. 203 joined the Katipunan and fought the Spaniards during the revolution, and later the Americans during the Filipino-American war. The lodge, however, had to close during those years of turmoil.

In 1907, Gen. Pantaleon Garcia re-organized Logia Pilar No. 203 at his residence in Pantaleon "Daang Haligue" St. now Gen. G. Bautista St.), Imus. Fire struck the house in 1908 that destroyed the important documents, records and paraphernalia of the lodge. The lodge was then moved to the old brick house of "Kapitan" Mariano Monzon, father-in-law of Gen. Juan Castaneda in Toclong, Imus, where the present site of Mater Dolorosa Chapel is located.

In 1909, Federico Alcantara, a member oldie lodge, donated a 1,170 square meter lot near the town plaza to serve as the lodge's permanent site. A three-storey building was erected on it during the incumbency of Pantaleon Garcia, a Master, with Baldomero Aguinaldo as the Senior Warden and Sixto Sapinoso as the Junior Warden. It was also at this time when Logia Pilar No. 203 acquired a 600 square meter cemetery lot for its departed members.

In February 1917 Logia Pilar No. 203, together with the other lodges under the Gran Oriente Español joined the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands. It was given a new charter On February 13, 1917 under its current name Pilar Lodge No. 15, F & AM and was duly constituted the following day. Manuel Paredes was then the elected Master of the lodge and he served in that capacity for five (5) years.

The active days of the 1930's was interrupted when World War II erupted on December 7, 1941. For this reason, the officers elected during the December 6, 1941 meeting were not installed. A few months later, the Japanese occupied 1 hums and they used the lodge building as their out-post.

 In May 1945, three months after the liberation of Cavite Province, an informal gathering of some members of the lodge was held in the house of Candido Sayoc. At this meeting the members present agreed to resume the activities of the lodge. The first stated meeting after liberation held in  the hall of Pilar Lodge No. 15 was in June 1945.

In 1967, the dilapidated three-story temple that survived the ravages of World War II and barely withstood the typhoons during that year, was renovated and lowered to a two-storey edifice. The project was started and completed when Romeo B. Argon, was Master.

Among the present members of Pilaf- Lodge are MW Rosendo C. Herrera, PGM and Major General Manuel Carranza, Jr.

Location: Imus, Cavite