Silanganan Lodge No. 19

The Name

Silanganan is a Tagalog word meaning “east” or “sunrise”.

The Lodge

                The Lodge In the first days of May 1908, a preliminary meeting for the purpose of establishing a new Masonic lodge in Pasig, Rizal was held in the house of Jose Feliciano by members of lodges working under the Gran Oriente Espariol. Among those who attended were Ambrocio Flores, Fermin Paz, Pablo Umali, Jose Feliciano and Ramon Victorio. In compliance with the rules of the Grand Oriente Espanol they held a second organizational meeting on May 10 in the house of Felix Ongjoco. This time they approved the by-laws for a new lodge and elected its first set of officers. Flores was chosen to be the Master, Paz the Senior Warden, and Ulnali the Junior Warden.

                On June 29, 1908, the local officials of the Gran Oriente Espanol admitted the new lodge - Silanganan Lodge No. 305 - into its Federation. Two months later, on August 25, Grand Master Manuel Salcedo of the Gran Oriente Espanol in Madrid issued a charter to Silanganan Lodge. On November 15, 1908, Silanganan Lodge No. 305 was officially constituted by a Commission of the Regional Grand Lodge of the Philippines headed by Valentin Polintan, the Grand Delegate to the Philippines of the Gran Oriente Espanol. Assisting Polintan were General Pantaleon Garcia, Francisco Licuanan, Felipe Buencamino, Elias Asuncion, Estanisigao Vergara, Jose A. Reyes and Pascual Casimiro. The feast and banquet that followed the constitution of the lodge marked a happy event in the annals of Pasig and started a new orientation in the social life of the locality.

On February 13,1917, as a result of the unification of Spanish and American lodges in the Philippines, Silanganan Lodge No. 305 joined the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands and was issued a new charter as Silanganan Lodge No. 19. The following day it was constituted as a lodge under the Grand Lodge of PI.

Silanganan prospered, but the Second World War put a temporary stop to its activities. When peace was restored, Silanganan was rehabilitated, however, it had lost valuable records, and most of its officers who were elected before the war were dead. A new set of officers, therefore, had to be elected. Chosen were Petronilo I. Vallejo, Master; Florencio Ilagan, Senior Warden; Vicente Garcia, Junior Warden; Manuel Jabson, Treasurer and Jose M. Santos, Secretary.

In December 1947, the lodge building in Bambang, Pasig was completely destroyed by typhoon Jean. Meetings were transferred to a private school building and later to the lodge hall of T. M. Kalaw Lodge.

The property in Bambang was sold. From the proceeds a lot was acquired in Bagong Ilog, Pasig where another building was constructed. The new Temple was dedicated on January 29, 1969. For more than twenty years, this Temple served as the home of the lodge. In the 1990's the government embarked on a road-building project in the area and expropriated the Temple. Silanganan Lodge now meets at the Capitol Masonic Temple.

 Among the leaders of the lodge these days are Rey A. Banaag, Raphael Andrada, Benedicto Madarang, Johnny Mirani, Bernardo Saplaco, Jr., Jose Mari A. Manjon, Conrad Lee, Alexander P. Gonzales, Juan Miguel C. Andrada, and Anthony Aguilar.

 Location: Pasig, Metro Manila