Message From The Worshipful Master - August 20, 2011

Message from the Worshipful Master, WM Jaime P. Magnetico

VW Graciano Audwin T. Garzon dropped his working tools last August 7, 2011 at 4:55 P.M.  He is a great lost to our fraternity as one of the pillars of Iligan Lodge No. 207.  I would like to thank the brethren for your untiring support both financially & morally to the orphans of VW Audwin Garzon.  We were ablr to raised the amount of PhP20,200.00 & I turned over personally to Carl Garzon.  VW James T. Yu & Co. gave also PhP20,000.00.  I would like also to thank the brethren from the other lodges in the district for doing the same.

We had a quite successful Skin Seminar on particular topic "Restoring Youth and Beauty the Non-surgical corrESthetiques Way."  Conducted by Dr. Jesse J. Corres last August 10, 2011.  It was attended by our Sisters & through the effort of WB Vic Mariano.

As reported by WI O.V. Badelles that "Operation Kalamdagan, the free eyeglasses distribution project, was successfully implemented as planned last August 11 & 12, 2011 at the U.D.L. Masonic Center, Quezon Ave., Iligan City."  I would like to thank our benefactors, Mr. Leo & Mrs. Narcisa Cruz of Chicago, USA, and again through the effort & connection of WB Victor Mariano.  I would like also to thank WI Oscar V. Badelles, for his chairmanship of the program for the successful distribution of 865 reading glasses to the indigents residence of Iligan City.  Likewise, I would like to thank Sis. Belinda Badelles & daughter Mariz Badelles in charge of the actual distribution.  I would like to thank all the brethren who help in making the program very successful.

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AGENDA FOR THE INITIATION & STATED MEETING
August 20, 2011 (Saturday @ 1:00 P.M.)

1:00 P.M. - OPENING OF LODGE OF M.M.

1:20 P.M. - SUSPENDING THE LABOR OF THE LODGE OF M.M. & OPENING THE LODGE

                  OF  E.A.M. for the initiation of Bro. Ivan Banaag.

                  Worshipful Master - Bro. Rogelio Nuneza

                  Senior Warden - Bro. Abel Gomez

                  Junior Warden - WB Jaime P. Magnetico, IM

                  Senior Deacon - Bro. Renato A. Tan

                  Junior Deacon - Bro. Pat D. Noel

                  Marshall - Bro. Lloyd Aguilar

                  Senior Steward - Bro. Alykhan Ali

                  Junior Steward - Bro. Ali Bari

                  Lambskin Apron - Bro. Khaliquzzaman Macabato

                  Working Tools - Bro. Abdulhakim Mamad

                  Treasurer - Bro. Boyd F. Siao

                  Secretary - VW Warlito M. Sanguila, PDDGM

                  Chaplain - VW Sotero Q. Trinidad, PDDGM

                  Tyler - WB Albert Chiu, PM

                  Lecture - Bro. Abel Gomez

                  Degree Charge - WI Ed Ulindang, GLI

5:00 P.M. - MAIN BUSINESS

   *  Reading & Approval of the Minutes of the last stated meeting

   *  Reading & Approval of Secretary's Financial Report

   *  Reading & Approval of Treasurer's Report

   *  Reading of Communication

5:45 P.M. - COMMITTEE REPORTS

   *  Operation Kalamdagan & Skin Seminar - WI Oscar V. Badelles, GLI

   *  Sunshine - VW Edwin S. Co, PDDGM

6:00 P.M. - MASONIC EDUCATION - VW Eufemio L. Calio, PGL

6:30 P.M. - ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF VISITING BRETHREN

6:45 P.M. - Messages/Commentaries from the visiting WMs, GLI, DGLs, and DDGM

6:50 P.M. - CLOSINGOF THE LODGE *Recitation in unison of Closing Prayer*

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Greetings to our AUGUST BIRTHDAY celebrants:


   WB Mervin C. Salazar - August 4
   Bro. Jose B. Montejo, Jr. - August 7
   Bro. Rainato L. Sy - August 11
   Bro. Angelo Guisseppi C. Loceo - August 14
   VW Dominic W. Siao - August 30

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Best Wishes to our lovebirds for the month of August:

   Bro. Angelo Guisseppi & Sis. Patricia Loceo - August 23

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"No man should ever enter upon any great or important undertaking without first invoking the blessings of God..." - Monitor, Entered Apprentice Mason

    

A Worthy Brother Dropped His Working Tools

Iligan Lodge No. 207 is sad to announce to the Brethren here and abroad that VW Graciano Audwin T. Garzon dropped his working tools last Sunday afternoon.  He has been fighting his ailment (complications due to diabetes) since his collapse in his work area early part of this year.

A "Lodge of Sorrow" was opened last Monday evening by the members of Iligan Lodge No. 207, led by WM Jaime P. Magnetico.

His body was brought to the lodge early monday morning and was moved to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor this morning at around 10.

His body will be laid to rest come Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon.

Brief History of Freemasonry in the Philippines

By:  Bro. Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.
Dagohoy Lodge No. 84

In the Beginning...

     The history of Philippine Masonry may be likened to the history of the first Grand Lodge.  On the Feast of St. John the Baptist in 1717, four of the pre-existing Masonic lodges in Great Britain organized what became the first Grand Lodge of the world.  On December 19, 1912, three lodges that were chartered under the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of California finally succeeded in establishing the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippine Islands, the forerunner of what is now officially known as the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines.

     Masonry existed in England long before the creation of the first Grand Lodge, so was Philippine Masonry already alive even before the formation of the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands.  In 1856, for example, Primera Luz Filipina, the first Masonic Lodge in the Philippines, was formed by Jose Malcampo y Monge, a naval captain who subsequently became Governor General of the Philippines.  Primera Luz was chartered by Gran Oriente Luisitano and admitted only Spaniards in its fold.  Subsequently, three other lodges were established one after the other - the first by the Germans, the second by the British consul in Nagtahan, and the third by the Spaniards in Pandacan.

The Filipino Patriots Embrace the Tenets of Freemasonry Abroad...

 President Emilio Aguinaldo

 

Andres Bonifacio

Jose P. Rizal

Apolinario Mabini

Bishop Gregorio Aglipay

These are just a few of the many men from the ranks of Masonry who are extraordinary in their pursuit of freedom for our beloved country.

(all images above are taken from:  http://www.grandlodgephils.org.ph/2011/?page_id=77)

It was the influx of the students who pursued higher studies in Europe, among them Marcelo H. del Pilar from Bulacan, Graciano Lopez Jaena from Iloilo, the Luna Brothers from Ilocos, Galicano Apacible from Batangas, Domingo Panganiban from Camarines Norte, Jose Alejandrino from Pampanga, Tomas Arejola from Camarines Sur, Ariston Bautista from Manila, Julio Llorente from Cebu, and the country's foremost hero, Jose Rizal from Laguna, that made a conglomeration of Masonic patriots from the entire archipelago.

 (image source:  http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Philippines)

 
     In 1886, some of them joined Lodge Solidaridad No. 53 in Barcelona, Spain, while others joined Lodge Revoluccion, and, exposed to the tenets of the fraternity, established local lodges upon their return to the islands.  Nilad Lodge was formed first on January 6, 1891, and, in no time, several lodges mushroomed in Manila and its environs, even reaching as far as Zamboanga in the southern backdoor.  By 1893, they had succeeded in establishing the Grand Regional Council under the leadership of Ambrocio Flores.

     Three years later, the Philippine Revolution conflagrated an armed rebellion that was initiated by the Katipunan led by Andres Bonifacio.  Bonifacio's organizational skills and the secret codes that he employed were said to have been copied from the Masonic secret rules and procedures.  These ultimately led to the downfall of the nation's conquistadors who for more than three centuries wielded the stick without dangling any carrot over the subjects of the entire archipelago.

(source:  Iligan Lodge No. 207 Bulletin, July 16, 2011)

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"The most difficult task of Masonry is to make our fellow brethren bearers of that understanding to seek the means of knowing the ways of life of our fellow men, their customs, and their history also." - Ill. Waldemar Hait, 33°