Martires Del ’96 Lodge No. 32

The Name

            Matrices all ‘96 Spanish for "Martyrs of 96 Thi lode was dedicated to Filipino patriots who died for the se of liberty during the Revolution of the 1896.

The Lodge

            Martires del 96 was established in Liliw, Laguna by De Mariano Santos of Araw Lodge. In October 1914 he called the Mason in the locality to an organizational meeting, during which the elected Jose Lucido as the Venerable Master, Mariano Cabesas as their First Vigilant, Montano Artieda as the Second Vigilant, Francisco Arjona as Secretary and Mariano de la Peña as Treasurer. On December 21, 1914 it was officially admitted into the Federation of the Gran Oriente Espanol and issued a charter as Martires del ‘96 Lodge No 372. On Jul 21 1915 was officially constituted by an Installation Commission of the Regional Grand Lodge headed by Roberto Moreno.

            When the unification of the American and Filipino lodges was forged in February 1917. Martires del ’96 Lodge transferred allegiance to the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands and became Martires del ‘96 Lodge No. 32. The lodge also transferred its meeting place to Nagcarlan, Laguna.

             Initially the lodge had a healthy existence. In 1923 it had 53 members. It suffered, however, during the Great Depression in the 1930’. At the end of 1932 its membership dropped to only 23, of whom only 16 were up to date in their dues. Moreover, very few were active in the affairs of the lodge. Likewise, there were no funds in the lodge treasury. Thus, at the stated meeting held on December 2, 1933, all the members present unanimously voted to return the chatter of their lodge to the Grand Lodge