St. John’s Corregidor Lodge No.3

The Name

        This Lodges was originally name Corregidor. When it was organized, the founders decided to follow the example set by the brethren in San Francisco, California who named their lodge “Golden Gate Lodge” after the Golden Gate that lies at the entrance to the city. Thus, they called their lodge Corregidor, after the island at the entrance to the Manila Bay.

          A historical marker installed on Corregidor states that it derived its name from   “Corregimiento,” the Spanish word for Municipal District.

The Lodge

         In 1907, Herbert Daniel Gale, Newton C. Comfort and George Harvey founded a third lodge in Manila under the Grand Lodge of California. Blessed with high caliber members, Corregidor Lodge enjoyed early prosperity. It had a roster well above 200, but like many other lodges, it was adversely affected by the Great Depression in the nineteen thirties. The lodge was still healthy and had a big roster in 1935, but the members realized that their lodge and Southern Cross Lodge No.5 had the same source of membership and eventually the two lodges would suffer unless something was done. They concluded that it would be to their mutual benefit it they combined. Thus, the two lodges consolidated in 1935, and they became Corregidor- Southern Cross No.3. Two years later a consolidation with another lodge, Benjamin Franklin Lodge No. 94, took place, but they retained the name and number Corregidor-Southern Cross No.3. The name Benjamin Franklin was Discarded.

      When the Great Pacific War broke out in 1941, the lodge was forced to close. The members were able to reactivate it when the war ended, but with difficulty for it suffered heavily because of its Caucasian membership. Weakened by the war, the lodge was never able to regain its pre-war strength. In 1975, it was plagued by poor attendance, low proficiency, high operating costs and a shortage of new members. Coincidentally, there was another lodge, St. John's Lodge No. 9, that was similarly situated. The members of both lodges believed there was only one feasible solution to their problems, and that was for the two lodges to merge. Negotiations were started in October 1975. By December the merger was finalized - all kinks were ironed out and the merged lodges became St. John's Corregidor Lodge No. 3. A joint meeting was held on December 18 for the election of the new officers, approval of the by-laws of the merged lodgeo and the adoption of resolutions. In the following month, Grand Master Teoo gly, during V. Kalaw presented the lodge with a temporary charter. Interestingly, during the December 10,1975 meeting of St. John's Lodge, gloom pervaded so WB Mark Nestly arose and admonished the members: "Brethren, this is not a wake; this is a new beginning." That remark became the motto of the merged lodge. Thereafter, attendance doubled, operating expenses were reduced and the combined assets made investments possible.

        This lodge has produced 15 Grand Masters, the largest among all the subordinate lodges of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines. Some of the Grand Masters from this lodge are George R. Harvey, William H. Taylor, Edwin E. Elser, Frederic H. Stevens, Seldon O'Brien, and John McFie.

        The present crop of leaders of the lodge are Crispulo M. Fernandez, Jr., Isaac Arribas III, Procopio Trabajo II, Raul Villanueva, Jesus Taciano Rey III, Reu Laurence Agustin, Emerson M. Manibo, Jimmy de Castro, Manuel Y. Pineda and others.

Location: Scottish Rite Temple, Manila